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Penal Law Code for the Kingdom of Bavaria (1813)

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Seventh Chapter. Of the particular offences of state officials and public servants.

Art. 351. If by committing a malicious crime, a state official or public servant has forfeited the penalty of imprisonment or hard labor camp, the proper punishment is always connected with removal from office. [ . . . ]

Art. 354. In addition to exacerbating the regular penalty for this offence, subordinate officials showing disobedience toward their superiors in official dealings have to reckon with removal from office, if they are guilty of the offence of insubordination (Art. 315. f.).

Art. 355. A public official who allows himself, by acceptance of a gift or whatever benefit, to be induced to an act or negligence that runs counter to the laws of the state, to the rights of others, or to his undoubted official duties, is guilty of the offence of bribery.

Acceptance of the gift or benefit is deemed to have materialized as soon as the public servant agrees to take the promised item, or if he has not reported that which has been given to him or one of his relatives by a party or soliciting person at the latest within three days after he has learned about it to the court or to his superior official.

Art. 356. Such a criminal is to be punished with removal from office.

This penalty, however, does not rule out a more severe one, if at the same time the breach of duty merges into another crime.

Art. 357. Anyone who misuses, out of private motives, hatred, bias, or self-interest, the official authority entrusted to him for exerting pressure on or mistreating subjects shall be punished with removal from office, subject to any penalties incurred beyond that. [ . . . ]



Source: Strafgesetzbuch für das Königreich Baiern [Penal Law Code for the Kingdom of Bavaria]. Munich, 1813, p. III-V, 1-3, 10 f., 73, 137-39.

Reprinted in Walter Demel and Uwe Puschner, eds. Von der Französischen Revolution bis zum Wiener Kongreß 1789-1815 [From the French Revolution to the Congress of Vienna, 1789-1815], Deutsche Geschichte in Quellen und Darstellung, edited by Rainer A. Müller, Vol. 6. Stuttgart: P. Reclam, 1995, pp. 232-35.

Translation: Erwin Fink

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