Landesordnungen#

Landesordnungen (collections of laws): also called "Landtafel". The Estates initiated these collections of all the laws in a province (including civil law) in the 16th century. Landesordnungen were valid as customary law and were partly approved by the sovereigns. W. Puedler drafted a Landesordnung in Lower Austria in 1573. R. Streun von Schwarzenau and J. B. Linsmayer drafted another version in 1594. A Landhandfeste, which is a collection of all the privileges of the Estates, was, however, not brought about. A group of 4 lawyers, headed by J. B. Suttinger von Thurnhof, had started working on it in 1651, but only an order of courts ("Tractatus de iuribus incorporabilibus") and an order of execution and appeal came into effect. The Landesordnung for Upper Austria was written by A. Schwarz in 1609 and came into effect as customary law without consent of the sovereign. Most Austrian provinces had only single laws but no Landesordnung. In 1526, during the time of the peasants´ war in Tirol, a "Bauern-Landesordnung" (peasants´ collection of laws) emerged, which was, however, replaced by the "Frankfurter´sche Landesordnung" (which represented the interests of the upper classes) in 1532. Another Landesordnung came into effect in 1573 and was applied until the 18th century. The Landesordnung which was drafted after the peasants´ revolt in Salzburg in 1525 was not published. The Landesfreiheiten (Landhandfesten) contained privileges of the nobility and were again and again approved by the sovereigns.

Literature#