Max Kasers „Römisches Recht als Gemeinschaftsordnung“ und die „Krise des römischen Rechts“ unter der NS-Herrschaft
Max Kaser’s “Roman Law as a Community Order” and the “Crisis of Roman Law” under the Nazi Regime

Summary/Abstract: Because of its supposedly very pronounced individualism, the National Socialists stood in opposition to Roman law, as expressed in article 19 of the NSDAP program of 1920. However, long before 1920, Roman law was already denied any community idea by the representatives of the Germanic branch of the historical school of law and was rather presented as purely individualistic. The "Germanic-German law", which was essentially social, was regarded as the positive counterpart to Roman law. This view was then taken over by the National Socialists in the 20th century and utilized for their ideology. Howev-er, the opposite was found by renowned jurists such as Fritz Schulz (1934) and Max Kaser (1939) – namely that Roman law was not as individualistic as was believed to be. This article will first give an overview about the beginnings of the criticism of Roman law in the 19th century. After this, the criticism of the NS-regime and its impact on the science and teaching of Roman law will be discussed. At the core of this work stands the analysis of Max Kaser’s "Roman law as a community order", his biography and his relationship with the Nazi authorities in particular. Finally, it will be examined to what extent his the-ories have prevailed in today's science and teaching.

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