In 1987, 160 ha of land was sold to the Federal Republic and it now belongs to the Baumholder troop drilling ground.

These expansions lie on the road known today as Bundesstraße 420 and in a new building zone in the village's southwest.

A row of old Einfirsthäuser (“houses with a single roof ridge”) or Quereinhäuser (combination residential and commercial houses divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street) along the former village street is said to be a special cultural monument featuring preserved farmhouses that were typical of the Westrich, an historic region that encompasses areas in both Germany and France.

[4] The area around what is now Rathsweiler was already settled in prehistoric times, bearing witness to which are archaeological finds from the neighbouring villages of Ulmet and Niederalben.

According to Michael Frey, the name cropped up as early as 1362 in connection with disagreements between the Counts of Veldenz and the Rhinegraves.

It goes without saying that the original documents outlining these details have been lost, for according to Dolch and Greule (writing more than a century later), Rathsweiler's first documentary mention came in 1364.

The scene was set for this event when a Spanish campaign coming from Rockenhausen into the Glan valley invaded and was pursued by Swedish troops under Rhinegrave Otto's command.

[7] After Revolutionary France had annexed the German lands on the Rhine’s left bank, Rathsweiler lay in the Mairie (“Mayoralty”) of Ulmet, the Canton of Kusel, the Arrondissement of Birkenfeld and the Department of Sarre.

The village also remained tightly bound with Ulmet after it was united with the Kingdom of Bavaria after Napoleon’s defeat and the new political order laid down by the Congress of Vienna.

It now belonged to the Landkommissariat (later Bezirksamt, then Landkreis or “district”) and Canton of Kusel and the Bürgermeisterei (“Mayoralty”) of Ulmet in the bayerischer Rheinkreis, later known as Rheinpfalz (“Rhenish Palatinate”), a Bavarian exclave.

Hitler’s success in these elections paved the way for his Enabling Act of 1933 (Ermächtigungsgesetz), thus starting the Third Reich in earnest.

Today, on the other hand, there are only a very few farmers who actually work the land as their main livelihood, and most people in the workforce must commute to jobs outside the village.

The following table shows population development over the centuries for Rathsweiler, with some figures broken down by religious denomination:[9] The village's name, Rathsweiler, has the common German placename ending —weiler, which as a standalone word means “hamlet” (originally “homestead”), to which is prefixed a syllable Raths—, believed to have arisen from a personal name, Rado, suggesting that the village arose from a homestead founded by an early Frankish settler named Rado.

When the Reformation was introduced by the Counts Palatine of Zweibrücken, the population converted to the Lutheran faith.

However, beginning in 1588, Count Palatine Johannes I forced all his subjects to convert to Reformed belief as espoused by John Calvin.

An example of Lutheran teaching is the concept that man does not find his way to God simply by doing good works, but only through belief (sola fide).

After the Thirty Years' War, when other denominations were once again allowed, the populace remained overwhelmingly Reformed, or after the 1818 Protestant Union, Evangelical.

Under the Veldenzes, Rathsweiler belonged to the Niederamt of Ulmet and under the Zweibrückens to a Schultheißerei of the same name in the Oberamt of Lichtenberg.

The tinctures, azure and argent (blue and silver) refer to the village's former mediaeval lords, the Counts of Veldenz.

[14] The arms have been borne since 1978 when they were approved by the now defunct Rheinhessen-Pfalz Regierungsbezirk administration in Neustadt an der Weinstraße.

[15] The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:[16] Counted foremost among Rathsweiler’s natural monuments is the Steinalbmündung Nature Conservation Area (Naturschutzgebiet Steinalbmündung), parts of which actually also lie within Niederalben’s and Ulmet’s limits.

The municipality yielded up for the school's upkeep one Malter, two barrels and three Sester of corn (wheat or rye), and paid three Rhenish guilders in money.

With schoolteacher Kayser, though, the municipality was not satisfied, for he apparently neither did anything nor showed any interest in doing anything to further the children's learning.

The municipality promised a considerable improvement of the benefits in money and kind, now with a total worth of 223 francs.

This schoolteacher found himself at odds with the municipality when he demanded that the school cropfield have its own well and council would not approve such a thing.

Assenbaum married Anna Maria Viktoria Göckel from Rothenburg in the same year that his last promotion is mentioned.

Assistant teacher Burkhardt from Erdesbach now took over the classes, but it was not long before another schoolteacher took over from him, Jakob Weber from Sankt Julian, but then he forthwith had to serve a half year in the military, and while he was away, his place was taken by Friedrich Kopf from Gumbsweiler.

Weber came back from his stint in the forces and also took over the singing club and an insurance agency, like Assenbaum before him.

In 1908, Weber had himself transferred to Standenbühl, and he was succeeded as the local schoolteacher by Johannes Vogel, who right away applied for posts in Oggersheim and Limburgerhof, without success.