From Customary Law to Codification: Secret Tribunal Scenes in Goethe’s Götz von Berlichingen and Kleist’s Käthchen of Heilbronn

The motif of the Vehmic Court—a medieval “secret tribunal”—enjoyed remarkable popularity in German literature late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This paper analyzes structure function Secret Tribunal scenes two canonical plays time: Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s Götz von Berlichingen (1773), which served as a template for development motif, one its most prominent literary echoes, Heinrich Kleist’s Käthchen Heilbronn (1810). By defining how both texts handle, elaborate transform historical subject, examines to what degree Goethe Kleist functionalized trial order comment on contemporary legal debates. In dramas, such are embedded multi-layered discourse practices, places particular focus divide between customary positive law, though from different angles: whereas young offers negative picture instituted justice based Roman praises Germanic law form that balances power absolutist rulers over people, parody Court proceedings advocates instead modern forms codified meant gradually displace outdated judicial systems.