LUBECK, a city and former state of Germany. The province of Lubeck, north of the state, is a constituent part of the Land of Oldenberg (q.v.). Lfibeck is situated on an arm of the Baltic between Holstein and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. It consists of the city of LUbeck, the town of TravemUnde, villages and the country districts, embraces 115 sq.m. of territory, and had a population in 1933 of 136,403, of which 129,417 were included in the city and its suburbs. The territory, lying in the Baltic lowlands, is watered by the Trave and its tributaries, the Wakenitz and the Stecknitz.
The constitution of the former state was republican, and by the constitution of 1925 consisted of two assemblies: (I) The House of Burgesses (Burgerschaft) consisting of 8o members elected by free suffrage. This was the supreme authority and elected (2) the Senate executive which consisted of 12 members. Lubeck was incorporated in the Prussian province of Schleswig in 1937.
At the first rise of the town justice was administered by the Vogt (advocatus) of the count of Holstein. Simultaneously with its incorporation by Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, there appears a magistracy of six, chosen probably by the Vogt from the Schoffen. By the middle of the 13th century the number of magistrates had increased, ranging from 20 to 4o and upwards.
In the face of so much self-government the Vogt presently dis appeared. There were three classes of inhabitants, full freemen, half freemen and guests or foreigners. People of Slav origin being considered unfree, all intermarriage with them tainted the blood; hence nearly all surnames point to Saxon, especially Westphalian, and even Flemish descent. The magistracy was for two centuries almost exclusively in the hands of the merchant aristocracy, who formed companies such as the Bergen-fahrer, Novgorod-fahrer, Riga-fahrer and Stockholm-fahrer. Tradesmen and handicrafts men who had settled in the town, though not eligible for the coun cil, shared to a certain extent in the self-government through the aldermen of each corporation or gild, of which some appear as early as the statutes of 1240. Naturally, there arose much
jealousy between the gilds and the aristocratic ruling com panies.
After an attempt to upset the merchants had been suppressed in 1384, the gilds succeeded in 1408. In 1416, however, owing to the pressure brought to bear by the Hansa, by the emperor Sigismund and by Eric, king of Denmark, there was a restora tion. The aristocratic government was again expelled under the dictatorship of Jurgen Wullenweber (c. 1492-1537), till the old order was re-established in 1535. In the constitution of 1669, under pressure of debt, the great companies yielded a specified share in the financial administration to the leading gilds of trades men. From 1813 the popular representatives had some share in the management of the finances. But the reform committee of 1814, whose object was to obtain an extension of the franchise, had made little progress, when the events of 1848 led to the establishment of a representative assembly of 120 members, elected by universal suffrage, which obtained a place beside the senatorial government. The new constitution (1925) has super seded that just described.