1871 · Criminal codes

German Criminal Code (StGB)

German Empire

The criminal code of the newly united German Empire, based on the Prussian code of 1851, with a general part on principles of liability and a special part on offences.

Why it matters

Its method, a general part followed by a special part, and its theory of crime shaped the criminal codes of Japan, Greece and other countries.

Built on

1810

French Penal Code (Code pénal)

France

through the Prussian code of 1851, itself modelled on the French code

Went on to shape

No later text on this timeline is recorded as built on it.

Countries in the Legal Families Atlas

Germany

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TheLawToKnow Tools’s timeline lists links of influence only where the borrowing is widely documented. Historians sometimes disagree about how much one text shaped another. It is an educational overview, not legal advice.