Savigny, Friedrich Karl von (frē`drĭkh kärl fən sä`vĭnyē), 1779–1861, German jurist and legal historian, a founder of the historical school of jurisprudence. He taught (1810–42) Roman law at the Univ. of Berlin, of which he was the first rector. In 1814, Savigny wrote The Vocation of Our Time for Legislation and Jurisprudence (tr. 1831), which developed the view that the legal institutions of a people are, like their art or music, an indigenous expression of their culture, and cannot be externally imposed. Savigny's thought was very much a part of the German romantic movement, with its emphasis on the Volksgeist [spirit of the people], folk culture, and national history. Thus, he opposed the movement for legal codification on the grounds that it represented an arbitrary interference with the natural product of the national consciousness. Savigny's juristic theories had great significance in the 19th cent. in England, France, and Italy, as well as in Germany. His work as a legal historian had even greater influence, however. His studies of Roman law are models of historical research, notable for their treatment of the historical and social factors that were involved in the development of the Roman legal system. The greatest is Geschichte des römischen Rechts im Mittelalter [history of Roman law in the Middle Ages] (6 vol., 1815–31). His books on the modern European system of Roman law include The Law of Possessions (1803, tr. 1848) and the uncompleted System of Modern Roman Law (1840–53, partial tr. 1867–94).

Savigny, Friedrich Karl von

(born Feb. 21, 1779, Frankfurt am Main—died Oct. 25, 1861, Berlin, Prussia) German jurist and legal historian. He was nobly born, and his privileged position enabled him to devote his life to scholarship. Teaching at the University of Berlin (1810–42), he helped found the influential “historical school” of jurisprudence. His six-volume History of Roman Law in the Middle Ages (1815–31) laid the foundation of the modern study of medieval law. He founded a system for establishing a modern German civil law with his eight-volume System of Modern Roman Law (1840–49), which also contained his system of international private law. A product of Romanticism, he regarded law as a reflection of a people's customs and spirit that could not be imposed artificially by means of rational, formal legislation.