1811 · Civil codes

Austrian General Civil Code (ABGB)

Austria

A civil code for the Habsburg lands, built on natural-law ideas and Roman law.

Why it matters

It is still in force, in updated form, and it influenced the civil codes of many Central and Eastern European states.

Built on

529 to 534

Corpus Juris Civilis (Justinian's Code)

Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire

built on Roman law and natural-law ideas

Went on to shape

1844

Serbian Civil Code

Serbia

closely modelled on the Austrian code

Countries in the Legal Families Atlas

Austria

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TheLawToKnow Tools’s timeline lists links of influence only where the borrowing is widely documented. Historians sometimes disagree about how much one text shaped another. It is an educational overview, not legal advice.