Deutsches Rechtswörterbuch

The dictionary cites usage of historical vocabulary from various regions of the West Germanic language area from England to Transylvania, from Lorraine to the Baltic Seas.

In order to capture the full lexical diversity of meanings for each word, the dictionary employs techniques of synchronic and diachronic comparative law in addition to purely linguistic and lexicographic approaches, against the backdrop of historical contextualisation.

[2] These circumstances contributed to the inner and outer turmoil the research unit faced in the wake of Nazi rule and World War II.

Forty years later, the late head of research unit Dr. Heino Speer, initialised the free of charge Internet publication.

The word at issue is "mundburt" (meaning a lord's special protection rights) for which Felix Liebermann's Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen ("mundbyrd", 685/86) provides evidence.

In particular, Liebermann’s aforementioned Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen (The Anglo-Saxons‘ Law) serve as an important source for the DRW with regard to Old English.

Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen contains the laws proclaimed by Anglo-Saxon rulers over the course of 5 centuries and remains “authoritative” and “unsurpassed” in the field.

In addition, many legal documents concerning the Hanseatic League and their Stahlhof (Steelyard) in London might bear special interest for the English user.

So far published 12 volumes of the Dictionary of Historical German Legal Terms
In the early years of the research unit's work, such paper slides were created to register references from the historical sources. This paper slide from the archive gives reference to "Morgengabe".