Knut Wolfgang Nörr

Franz Böhm and the Theory of the Private Law Society

When Franz Bohm wrote the article on private law society and market economy in 1966, he had already reflected on matters of law and economy for no less than forty years. During the late 1920s he had served as an official in the Ministry of Economics of the Weimar Republic, and here he met with the dubiosities of the type of an economy that we may call organised economy, an economy which has prevailed in Germany since the ill-famous protectionist turn of economic policy in 1878/79, a turn, again, that was approved of not only by industrialists and big landowners but also by the school or at least the majority among economists and jurists (remember the debates within the Verein fur Socialpolitik/Association for the Promotion of Social Policy). The experience that Bohm gained serving the Ministry of Economics, above all in regard to the cartelization of German industry, continued to be the incitement of his scholarly work from the Weimar Republic through the Nazi period until the Federal Republic. In a way, we may call the experience of the twenties the background radiation of his whole thinking and writing including his contributions to the debates in the Bundestag, whose member he was from 1953 to 1965 after joining the Christian Democrats. Thus we should take a look at the state of affairs in the period before 1933, especially in regard to the cartel movement, from a conceptual as well as a political point of view, in order to understand the contextual background of the concept of private law society.

A Symbiosis with Reserve: Social Market Economy and Legal Order in Germany

From the viewpoint of economy and economics, it is possible to characterize one or another country by certain economic models or visions or concepts. In the case of the Federal Republic of Germany, nobody will question the fact that the term ‘Social Market Economy’ would play the part of such a characteristic concept. We can also speak of a trade mark, as it were, of a quality label under which German history in the second half of our century could be studied and analyzed. Of course, no conception may escape criticism and disapproval, and therefore Social Market Economy has also been rejected for various reasons again and again. However, the majority among politicians and economists, and the majority of the population, to judge from the results of parliamentary elections, approve and support Social Market Economy, considering it even as an essential contribution to the legitimacy of their political system. It is therefore worthwhile to have a look at the concept of Social Market Economy and to review a few phases of its history.