Welcome to
The Karlsruhe Museum of Legal History is located in the Federal Court of Justice in the city center and provides interested visitors with an overview of the historical development of law. Permanent exhibition: From Babylon to today's legal system
The concept of the permanent exhibition links the **legal systems of ancient cultures** with modern legal developments. A replica of the famous diorite pillar of the Code of Hammurabi (around 1700 BC), located in the Louvre in Paris, opens the exhibition tour and leads to further exhibits from Babylonian, Greek, and Roman law.
This is followed by early **German developments with rural and urban laws**, the Sachsenspiegel (1220-1235) and the Golden Bull (1356). The further development of the legal system in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, including the Imperial Chamber Court (1495-1806), follows. Valuable prints of the Corpus Juris from the 16th and 17th centuries and other exhibits illustrate the successful reception and further development of **Roman law**. This is followed by the so-called **natural law codes** – the General Land Law for the Prussian States (1794), the French Code Civil (1804, in force in the Palatinate, Rheinhessen, and the Rhineland in its original version and with modifications as the Baden Land Law until 1900) and the Austrian General Civil Code (1811) – are explained.
The path to **German legal unity** and the development of a modern constitutional state and rule of law are documented in detail. The Federal Ministry of Justice has given the Museum of Legal History a **section of the Berlin Wall**, which can be viewed in the rear outdoor area of the library building of the Federal Court of Justice.
Source: DZT Knowledge Graph
