Introduction

A brilliant scholarly achievement

Sinauer's doctoral thesis on the "Schlüssel des sächsischen Landrechts"

On 20 September 1926, Erika Sinauer applied to be admitted to the doctoral examinations. Her dossier is stored in the archive of the University of Freiburg im Breisgau under the shelf mark B 28/1297. It includes the evaluation of her doctoral thesis: „Der Schlüssel des sächsischen Landrechts“ by her supervisor, Prof. Dr Claudius Freiherr von Schwerin, stating that her paper far exceeded the requirements for a doctoral dissertation and indeed would have sufficed for a habilitation. The dean of the university, Ernst Levy, similarly judged Sinauer’s work as „an astounding achievement for a first work“.

In the words of von Schwerin’s assessment:

„The second chapter contains a description of 13 key manuscripts (...) that the author herself exhaustively examined, some of which she saw in Freiburg and others during a trip. (...) The manuscript descriptions are unusually exact and in many cases they correct mistakes made by earlier researchers.“

„The third chapter is very comprehensive and treats the genealogy of the manuscripts that she studied. After grouping the manuscripts in four branches, the author makes an interesting point by proving that the Zwickau manuscript must have belonged to the author of the „Schlüssel“ himself. This is a central result of the study. (...) All the same, the author succeeds in grouping the manuscripts in a way that will satisfy all needs of future research.“

„The evaluation of the study as a whole may begin with the pleasing finding that it is a brilliant piece of scholarly work that will prove to be a valuable gain for the literature on this subject. With great methodical skill, the author brings light to a hitherto little studied typus of medieval legal literature and traces its origins and development with unusual thoroughness. In her work, she was aided by (...) her own ability to feel her way into the mentality of medieval scribes and scholars and by her sharp perception of small details that she could symptomatically evaluate.“

„It is difficult to give the study an adequate note. If it had have been submitted to qualify for the venia legendi in legal history, I would have no second thoughts about recommending that the venia be conferred. This means that as a dissertation it absolutely must be given the predicate summa cum laude, albeit that this note is quite insufficient for the work.“