Danzig Law - History

History

The models for the Danzig Law were the statute books of the Holy Roman Empire and of other Hanseatic cities, especially Lübeck. The merchant city received Lübeck law in 1226.

The official copies of laws were certified by attaching seals (sigilla) as means of authentication. The earliest known seal of the city of 1224 was inscribed, in capital letters, Sigillum Burgensium in Dantzike, Latin/German of the empire for "Seal of the burghers in Dantzike".

In the 15th century, the Prussian Confederation was founded to reform, later oppose the policy of the Teutonic Order. The Prussian Confederation then supported seceding from the Monastic state in 1454, triggering the civil war amongst different factions in Prussia resulting in Thirteen Years' War. During that time, Danzig continued with its own set of law system, which its self-government. The recognition of this law, and other Danzig's privileges, by the King of Poland was a prerequisite for allying with him resp. subjecting as Royal Prussia to his overlordship. The Second Peace of Thorn of 1466 confirmed the rights. When they were in danger in the 1570s, it led to the Danzig rebellion and the Siege of Danzig (1577).

In the First Partition of Poland in 1772, the Kingdom of Prussia took over Royal Prussia (but not yet Danzig and Thorn (Toruń) and called it West Prussia. The Latin names Prussia Orientalis and Prussia Occidentalis were for centuries prior used for both parts (East and West) of Prussia. Danzig continued its self government for two decades to come, then in 1793 was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia and its Prussian Danzig Law codes were supplanted by standardized Prussian laws.