Urban Law
The Saxon Mirror and the Magdeburg Law figure among the most important German cultural products in the legal sphere. The Magdeburg Law developed at the end of the twelfth century as the result of an unverifiable tenth-century mercantile law, suitable not only for merchants but also for the urban population. The Saxon Mirror was written between 1220 and 1235 as a fixation of Saxon land law. In complex processes of legal transfer, the Magdeburg Law and the Saxon Mirror merged into countless versions of Saxon-Magdeburg law, which local rulers, scribes, legal practitioners, and jurists adapted to local conditions. The chapter explains how this process occurred in Silesia, Poland, lands of the Teutonic Order, Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary, and in cities such as Kulm, Thorn, Krakow, and Lemberg. In some of these regions of central and east central Europe, the impact of Saxon-Magdeburg law persisted for up to 700 years.