Introduction: Transforming the Reich : toward a new political history of modern Germany -- Prelude to modern Germany : iurisdictio and the German idea of sovereignty -- Toward a German nation : Friedrich Karl von Savigny and the growth of legal politics -- Images of the Gemeinwesen : the Germanists and the growth of customary law constitutionalism -- Undermining absolutism : the path of legalism and constituting the nation 1846-1879 -- A century of promise : Eheliches Güterrecht, women's wealth and independence in nineteenth-century Germany -- Last bastion : the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch and the transformation of German society -- Discontent in the Bürgerliche society 1900-1933 : exclusion and popular resentment -- Conclusion: The German idea of revolution : some final thoughts
Summary
Explores the important place of the theory and practice of private law (civil law) in the transformation of Modern Germany's fin-de-siecle constitutional arrangements. This book offers a thought-provoking and novel understanding of German political development
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-288) and index
