Integration as Reception: University of Tartu Faculty of Law Case in 19th Century

• Author: Marju Luts
• Pages: 130-141

Marju Luts

Integration as Reception: University of Tartu Faculty of Law Case in 19th Century

Immediately after Estonia's restoration of sovereignty in 1991, political decisions primarily aimed for the restitution of the legal system of the Republic of Estonia that had existed between the two world wars (1918 - 1940). From the standpoint of jurisprudence, it would first and foremost have meant large assignments in researching the history of law. However, subsequent developments demonstrated that the idea of restitution was not decisive in the ongoing reform of law. Thus, even by the time the 1992 Constitution was being developed, continuity was understood not as a model of static restoration and preservation of the precepts of the first Republic of Estonia but rather as dynamic and continuing development¹. Such a concept of continuity, open to changes, expresses the aspiration of the Estonian legal reformers to integrate as rapidly as possible into the Western European system of law in each legal domain. So it cannot be said that the efforts made to ensure Estonia's future accession to the European Union were just the idealistic whims of our politicians. In the legal reform of Estonia, the idea of restitution was rather rapidly replaced with the idea of reception². So several primary prerequisites for integration with the political structures of Europe have been created.

It is unthinkable to perform an extensive legal reform that would really aim to change the legal life, utilising solely the amendment of legislation. A legal reform built on the idea of reception demands primarily great efforts in the field of jurisprudence. In an era of reforms, even dogmatic jurisprudence cannot lag behind legislation and confine itself to commenting upon and interpreting laws. Rather its role in legal politics should be to stay several steps ahead of legislative measures and create a secure scientific basis for the amalgamation of legal norms into practical law. Primarily this of course requires the maximum use of the lessons to be drawn from comparative jurisprudence. Here it is not possible to limit oneself merely to a comparison of legislative solutions. This is true even in continental Europe where apart from legislation, legal precedents and also the dogmatic theology of law is of the utmost importance. Thus, the reforming task imposed on Estonian jurisprudence means integration with its Western European counterpart. This, however, requires an extensive process of reception within the science itself.

During its kaleidoscopic 366-year history, the Faculty of Law of the University of Tartu has in earlier times also addressed the tasks of reform and reception. A thorough analysis of all the relevant eras is impossible in a piece of this length, so I will confine myself to the experiences of the University of Tartu after it was reopened at the beginning of the 19th century. This period is more suited to closer inspection because two different models of reception followed each other in a rather short time. This allows a brief comparison of their effectiveness against the background of reforming local jurisprudence and legal order.

Reopened in 1802 University of Tartu and Model of Result Reception

In 1802, in Tartu, the Baltic provinces' own university was reopened, the activities of which had halted in 1710 due to the Great Northern War³. In essence it was a German university within the Russian Empire both in terms of its language of tuition and the national composition of the academic corps. This conditioned the primary and most important task of the Faculty of Law - training young lawyers for local provinces with a German-speaking upper echelon. In 1710, the Baltic provinces had been annexed to the Russian Empire through the so-called acts of surrender, the validity of which was confirmed in the Uusikaupunki Peace which entered into force at the end of the Great Northern War in 1725. The content of the instruments of surrender, presented in 1710 by local estates and towns to the emperor for approval and ratification, most resembled medieval election capitulations⁴. Those gave an imperial confirmation of the supremacy of the Lutheran creed, preservation of privileges and rights of the estates and self-government. The latter meant that only the representatives of the local nobility could be appointed to judicial and administrative positions. Only towns, which had their own municipal law, were made an exception. But in towns too, corresponding positions were mostly taken by representatives of the local patricians. As the instruments of surrender ratified the endurance of the existing local law, which had formed over centuries, future practitioners of law certainly needed some knowledge of local law. Throughout the 18th century, when jurisprudence could be studied only in foreign universities, knowledge of local law had to be obtained simply in the course of professional practice. Therefore, the existence of a faculty of law in the University of the Baltic provinces was considered essential, especially as the other universities opened around the same time in the Russian Empire did not have a separate faculty of law. Legal subjects were taught in the faculties of ethics⁵.

All the statutes of establishment of the University⁶ do contain the expression that the University of Tartu was founded "for the benefit of the entire Empire" but this is stated only in the second order of importance. Of primary importance was that the new educational institution should be for the benefit and advantage of the local provinces. Thus, the aspiration of the founders was clearly oriented towards founding a Landesuniversität for those provinces.

The usefulness of and an extreme need for a local Landesuniversität was also stressed by all those who took the floor at the formal opening of the University on 21 - 22 April 1802⁷. In the sermon dedicated to the event, the pastor of Tartu, Friedrich David Lenz, expressed his great satisfaction at the reopening of the local university. Among other things he also stressed how important it was for a future jurist to obtain knowledge about his domestic law during his studies:

"- der junge Jurist kann von der ausländischen (Universitäten) viel theoretische Kenntnisse der Rechtsgelehrsamkeit mitbringen, aber von den hiesigen Gesetzen, Verfassungen, Proze?Form und dergl. konnten ihm dort seyne Lehrer nichts sagen. Aber hier auf der einheimischen kann er beydes zugleich lernen, und jedes Amt in diesem Fache mit weit mehrerer Gewandheit übernehmen, die er sich bisher erst durch mühsames Nachstudiren, oft erst im Amte selbst, zu verschaffen suchen mu?e."⁸

A great enthusiasm for the opportunities provided by local studies was apparently not enough. Why else was an emperor's order required to state that henceforth in the Baltic provinces only such persons who for at least two years had studied in the University of Tartu could be appointed to local positions that required legal knowledge⁹. According to the first such order, this requirement was to enter into force two years after the commencement of activities of the University. In the Foundation Deed, ratified by the emperor on 12 December 1802, the deadlines were changed: the mandatory period of studies in the local university was prolonged to three years and the vacation period to five years¹⁰.

In addition to the direct practical benefit, which was to avoid a difficult familiarisation period with the application of local law, the local university was expected to further patriotism. Studying in one's local provincial university was to contribute to the prevention of alienation which, if studies were wholly undertaken abroad, seemed almost unavoidable:

"Der hiesige Jüngling, der auf einer ausländischen Universität studirte, sieht fremde Länder, fremde Einrichtungen und Gesetze. Unbekannt mit denen des Vaterlandes, (denn welcher Jüngling merkt in dem Alter schon darauf!) lernte er nun von seinem ausländischen Lehrer jene ausländischen Verfassungen zuerst kennen; Welcher Lehrer wird nun nicht die, seines Vaterlandes oder Fürsten vorzüglich erheben und in ein vortheilhaftes Licht stellen? Nun dürften ihm jene ausländische Verfassungen die besten, die beglückendsten, ja die einzig möglichen guten zu seyn. Natürlich mu?e sein Vaterland, von dessen Einrichtungen oder Verfassungen er noch gar nichts wu?e, seinem aufdämmernden Scharfblicke nun tief im Schatten stehen, und ihm in vielen Stücken noch ein ganz rohes und uncultivirtes Land zu seyn dünken. Dazu kommt nun noch für unsere hiesige, im Auslande studirende Jünglinge die grö?re Freyheit, die sie auf fremden Universitäten genossen, die angenehmen Verbindungen mit ihren Mitstudirenden, als ihren ersten Jugend-Freunden, der Ton der Fröhlichkeit, der unter ihnen herrschte; alles dies machte ihnen das Ausland zu einem Elysium, wo sie ewig bleiben wünschten, wenn es nur immer auf Kosten des Väterlichen Beutels ohne eigene Sorgen und Anstrengungen hätte geschehen können. Mit dieser Vorliebe fürs Fremde, kehrte nun der rasche feurige Jüngling in sein Vaterland zurück, und hier war ihm alles fremd, allenthalben stie?er an, alles drückte und rieb ihn, alle Convenienzen, Ordnungen und Gesetze seines Vaterlandes, die mit seinem Freyheits-System nicht zusammen pa?en, dünkten ihm zu engherzig. ... Vielleicht ist die Seltenheit wahrer ächter Patrioten eine Folge der ausländischen Universitäten ... Vor diesem Schaden sichert uns gewi?eine einheimische Universität. Hier werden die jungen Studirenden zuerst mit den Vorzügen und Vortheilen, mit den wohlthätigen Gesetzen und Einrichtungen ihres Vaterlandes bekannt. Sie gewinnen es lieb, sie fühlen sich glücklich bey dem gedanken, hier geboren zu seyn, hier als Männer einst zum allgemeinen Wohl mitzuwürken."¹¹

Pastor Lenz thus...