Property and the German Idea of Freedom: From the End of the Thirty Years' War to the Eve of the French Revolution in Germany

Kirjan Property and the German Idea of Freedom: From the End of the Thirty Years' War to the Eve of the French Revolution in Germany (2024) on kirjoittanut Colin F. Wilder. Kirjan kieli on englanti, ja sen on kustantanut BRILL. Kirja on laajuudeltaan 384 sivua ja se on sidottu.

This book offers a new interpretation German law and politics during the era between the Thirty Years' War and the French Revolution. Liberal ideas of freedom and equality were prototyped in Germany in property law: through the free disposition of estates, freedom from taxation and other extractions, and free use of paper money. Civil liberty, ideas about equality, and restrictions on arbitrary state power were real, recognized, and meaningful. These freedoms were enjoyed by all classes of Germans. They were thought to have been built atop Germans' ancient heritage of freedom and a federalist imperial constitution which inspired Montesquieu and the American Founders. Driving these trends were ideas about political economy, enlightened reform, practical problem solving, as well as forces of supply and demand in everything from the market for books to the market for justice. This book places the story of early modern German freedom close by the side of more familiar stories for England, North America, France, and the Netherlands.