III. Die Frankfurter Reformation König Friedrichs III. vom 14. August 1442: Ein bedeutsames Gesetz der Reichsreformzeit
Abstract The Reformation of king Frederic III.: An important law in the period of the Reichsreform. The reformatio Friderici was widely regarded as meagre in content (1) since it did not cover important reform issues of the time and in many parts only repeats older texts. Heinrich Koller proved this to be a misjudgement. His assessment must be strengthened or also corrected by legal historical arguments. Thus, the enormous density of tradition (2) cannot be explained by Friedrich’s intention to publish the law in general, but mirrors the necessity to be able to present the text in legal proceedings. The term reformatio (3) does not mean a reform law, but characterises a new form of legislation which wants to achieve reforms by taking recourse to older texts. The importance of the reformation for practice (4) proves not least in the fact that the king continuously refers to his text in trials for breach of the peace and in his dealing with the vehm, in which the position of the highest judge is ascribed to him.