A general clause accepted without debate grew into Germany’s dominant corrective rule

Evidence

When one looks back to the date of origin of the Civil Code and compares the results just described (though not exhaustively described), one sees to one’s stupefaction that no one had come within any distance of imagine ing the powers of growth that were contained in this Article 826. In 1900 it was considered merely a corner piece rounding off the system of actions g delict2. In the sessions of the Reichstag it was accepted without debate. ---- One can call this truly a *career”. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 4704

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Volume-1’s point that detailed statutes force relentless amendment while broader rules let courts develop law. — connects to: German courts resisted creative use of good-faith clauses for their first decades — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 4706; Legal formalism in German history licensed abuses later repeated by the US — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 329; Fixed legal rules beat discretionary state power even when imperfect — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 135 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Judicial-legislative competence and law’s form are separable but linked questions #expands (0.85) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 6
• Legal formalism in German history licensed abuses later repeated by the US #corroborates (0.75) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 329
• Fixed legal rules beat discretionary state power even when imperfect #contradicts (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 135