HINSCHIUS

hinschius, paul (1835-1898), german jurist, was the son of franz sales august hinschius (1807-1877), and was born in berlin on the 25th of december 1835. his father was not only a scientific jurist, but also a lawyer in large practice in berlin. after working under his father, hinschius in 1852 began to study jurisprudence at heidelberg and berlin, the teacher who had most influence upon him being aemilius ludwig richter (1808-1864), to whom he afterwards ascribed the great revival of the study of ecclesiastical law in germany. in 1855 hinschius took the degree of _doctor utriusque juris_, and in 1859 was admitted to the juridical faculty of berlin. in 1863 he went as professor extraordinarius to halle, returning in the same capacity to berlin in 1865; and in 1868 became professor ordinarius at the university of kiel, which he represented in the prussian upper house (1870-1871). he also assisted his father in editing the _preussische anwaltszeitung_ from 1862 to 1866 and the _zeitschrift fur gesetzgebung und rechtspflege in preussen_ from 1867 to 1871. in 1872 he was appointed professor ordinarius of ecclesiastical law at berlin. in the same year he took part in the conferences of the ministry of ecclesiastical affairs, which issued in the famous "falk laws." in connexion with the developments of the _kulturkampf_ which resulted from the "falk laws," he wrote several treatises: e.g. on "the attitude of the german state governments towards the decrees of the vatican council" (1871), on "the prussian church laws of 1873" (1873), "the prussian church laws of the years 1874 and 1875" (1875), and "the prussian church law of 14th july 1880" (1881). he sat in the reichstag as a national liberal from 1872 to 1878, and again in 1881 and 1882, and from 1889 onwards he represented the university of berlin in the prussian upper house. he died on the 13th of december 1898. the two great works by which hinschius established his fame are the _decretales pseudo-isidorianae et capitula angilramni_ (2 parts, leipzig, 1863) and _das kirchenrecht der katholiken und protestanten in deutschland_, vols, i.-vi. (berlin, 1869-1877). the first of these, for which during 1860 and 1861 he had gathered materials in italy, spain, france, england, scotland, ireland, holland and belgium, was the first critical edition of the false decretals. his most monumental work, however, is the _kirchenrecht_, which remains incomplete. the six volumes actually published (_system des katholischen kirchenrechts_) cover only book i. of the work as planned; they are devoted to an exhaustive historical and analytical study of the roman catholic hierarchy and its government of the church. the work is planned with special reference to germany; but in fact its scheme embraces the whole of the roman catholic organization in its principles and practice. unfortunately even this part of the work remains incomplete; two chapters of book i. and the whole of book ii., which was to have dealt with "the rights and duties of the members of the hierarchy," remain unwritten; the most notable omission is that of the ecclesiastical law in relation to the regular orders. incomplete as it is, however, the _kirchenrecht_ remains a work of the highest scientific authority. epoch-making in its application of the modern historical method to the study of ecclesiastical law in its theory and practice, it has become the model for the younger school of canonists. see the articles s.v. by e. seckel in herzog-hauck, _realencyklopadie_ (3rd ed., 1900), and by ulrich steitz in the _allgemeine deutsche biographie_, vol. 50 (leipzig, 1905). hinterland (german for "the land behind"), the region lying behind a coast or river line, or a country dependent for trade or commerce on any other region. in the purely physical sense "interior" or "back country" is more commonly used, but the word has gained a distinct political significance. it first came into prominence during 1883-1885, when germany insisted that she had a right to exercise jurisdiction in the territory behind those parts of the african coast that she had occupied. the "doctrine of the hinterland" was that the possessor of the littoral was entitled to as much of the back country as geographically, economically or politically was dependent upon the coast lands, a doctrine which, in the space of ten years, led to the partition of africa between various european powers.