Emminger, Erich

(1880-1951)

   politician and judge; Justice Minister in the first cabinet of Wilhelm Marx.* Born in Eichstadt, he studied law and settled into legal practice, first in Augsburg (1906-1908) and then in Nuremberg (1908-1909). In 1909 he entered the civil service* as a public prosecutor and district-court jurist. Although he was elected to the Reichstag* in 1913 as a Center Party* deputy (he retained his seat through 1918), he volunteered for the army at the outbreak of war and served as a military judge advocate.

   From 1919 until its dissolution by the NSDAP, Emminger was a member of the BVP. Retaining a Reichstag mandate during 1920-1933, he served on the chamber's legal committee and was a vocal proponent for criminal-law reform. As Justice Minister in the crucial months December 1923 through May 1924, he used an Enabling Act* to launch three key reforms: the composition of courts was dramatically changed; technical changes were made in both civil and crim-inal procedure; and traditional trial by lay jury was replaced by a jury bench consisting of laymen and professional jurists. These reforms were preserved by later legislative bodies.

   From 1924 Emminger's primary aim was a monetary revaluation that might equalize the harm caused by the hyperinflation. As Justice Minister he obstructed legislation that would have prohibited such equalization; he then worked in the Reichstag for a retrospective settlement favoring those most damaged by the inflation. Although Emminger remained on the Bavarian State Court (1931-1935), he abstained from politics when the BVP was dissolved in 1933. He was held briefly in protective custody in June 1933 and was arrested after the July 1944 attempt on Hitler's* life; the death of a second of his four sons led to his release.

   REFERENCES:Eyck, History of the Weimar Republic, vol. 1; NDB, vol. 4; Schumacher, M.d.R.