had an enormous influence on German legal science, and was well known among Nordic scholars.135 Furthermore,Windscheid was one of the members of the commission that in1887 published the first draft of a German national Civil Code. The draft was heavily criticised, and it was not until 1896 that the German legislature approved a revised draft, with had its effective date postponed to 1900 (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch).136 All the same,Windscheid’s ideas on the employment relationship seem to have had an important impact on the BGB. To the historical school in general, and to Savigny in particular, is attributed a new approach within four, partly overlapping, fields, namely (i) a doctrine on national origin, historical development and organic character of law, (ii) a doctrine on the sources of law, (iii) a doctrine on the individual’s personal autonomy, marking the abolition of the old status-doctrine based on natural law and (iv) a new jurisprudential systematization. (i) The historical argument:The point of departure for Savigny’s doctrines on the historical, national and organic character of lawwas the fiction that society was construed as a living unity, an organism that was composed of previous, now living and future generations. Each national legal system had its roots deep in the spirit of the people (“the Volksgeist”) and matured there in long, continuing and necessary processes. The social institutions derived their value at any given point of time from their very existence; thus an important task of politics and law was to protect and cultivate the established order.137 (ii) Legal sources:The scholars’ esteem for historically developed institutions implied an unsympathetic attitude towards legislation. Customary law was regarded as the most important, at least theoretically, among legal sources. In practice, however, the “learned law” of the German professors and their evaluation of positive c o n t i n u i t y a n d c o n t r ac t 73 135 Windscheid, Lehrbuch des Pandektenrecht, I-II. In this study the 4th edition from187475 is used (Düsseldorf 1874-75). 136 Dawson 1968, p. 458;Wieacker 1967, pp. 446-447. 137 Björne 1998, pp. 230-232.
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