Administrative history: In order to prevent the misuse of company names and to be able to determine who is entitled to act on behalf of a company, the obligation for merchants to register the legal relationships of their companies with the commercial court in a register accessible to everyone was introduced on 1 January 1836. However, until 1 August 1866, when the relevant provisions of the Introductory Act to the General German Commercial Code entered into force, the obligation existed only for newly established companies and for them only if the company name and the name of the owner were not identical. The possibility of voluntary registration was given. The company protocol initially established for all entries except procurations was later replaced by registers for each legal form. Special registers were added as cooperative registers (from 1869), sign registers (from 1875), design protection registers (from 1876) and stock exchange registers for goods and securities (from 1896). For each register number, a file was kept which contained documents filed in addition to a copy of the register entry. From 1 October 1879 the registers were kept at the regional court, from 1 January 1900 at the district court in Hamburg. The district courts of Bergedorf and Ritzebüttel kept their own registers for their sprinkles. The registers of companies, societies and cooperatives were closed on 31 December 1904, their still valid contents transferred to the commercial registers and a new cooperative register. Preliminary Remark Legal Foundations The "Ordinance of 28.12.1835 (Hamburgische Verordnungen Bd.14, p.307-316) on the Notification to the Commercial Courts of the Establishment, Change and Repeal of Commercial Societies, Commercial Firms, Anonymous Companies and Procurants to be Made in Commercial Courts, which became Popular by the Council and Citizen's Conclusion of 15.October 1835" of 28.12.1835 (Hamburgische Verordnungen Bd.14, p.307-316) introduced in Hamburg for the first time an obligation for merchants to have the legal relationships of their companies entered in a register at the Commercial Court which is accessible to everyone. It entered into force on 1 January 1836. This regulation had come into being on the initiative of Commerzdeputation, which from 1823 constantly tried to persuade the Council to adopt a regulation which prevented the misuse of company names and created an opportunity to establish who was the actual owner of a company and who was entitled to act on its behalf. Initially, however, not all commercial enterprises were required to be entered in the register. Excluded were all already existing companies, however to the common sense of the owners it was appealed to to be registered voluntarily for the promotion of the thing (Publicandum of 28.12.1835, Hamburgische Verordnung Bd.14, S.317). In addition, registration was waived where the name of the trading company was identical to the name of the sole proprietor. Accordingly, the obligation existed only for 1. acting-Societäten (§ 1 of the regulation) 2. the action of the sole owner of a acting firm, which either did not contain its own full name or was not limited to its own name (§ 3 Abs.2) 3. granting of procurations (§ 4-8) 4. anonymous companies (§ 9-10) 5. agents and representatives of foreign insurance and similar companies (§ 11) 6. Hamb. insurance companies and other public limited companies (§ 12). The aforementioned had to report every establishment, change and cancellation of a company and submit all circulars to the Commercial Court - Company and Procurator's Office, partly also called Company Office. With the "Bekanntmachung betr. die Anmeldung im Firmen-Bureau vom 1.2.1844 (Hamburgische Verordnungen Bd.18, S.7)" (Announcement concerning the registration in the firm's office of 1.2.1844, Hamburgische Verordnungen Bd.18, p.7), the obligation arising from the 1835 ordinance was once again made public and in some cases specified in more detail. In 1865, the deposition of trademarks, labels and packaging provided for in Art. 24 of the Hanseatic-French Commercial and Shipping Treaty of 4 March 1865 (published on 30 June 1865, Hamburg Ordinances Vol. 33, pp. 233-234) was transferred to the Office for Business and Procuration. The introduction of the General German Commercial Code by law of 22.12.1865 (Hamburgische Verordnungen Bd.33, p.533-561) brought a substantial extension of the obligation to register in the registers. The Commercial Code and the Introductory Act came into force in Hamburg on 1 May 1966. According to Article 19 of the Commercial Code, every businessman was now obliged to have his company entered in the Commercial Register. Paragraph 6 of the Hamburg Introductory Act also introduced the obligation to register the circle of traders to whom, under Article 10 of the Commercial Code, the rules for merchants were not to apply, such as traders from small businesses, hoekers, carters, ordinary skippers, etc., if they appointed an authorised signatory or if they wished to enter into an open partnership to operate their trade. In contrast to the Regulation of 1835, the transitional provisions (§§ 1-5) of the Introductory Act stipulated that the new provisions were also binding on all existing undertakings. It was imposed on these companies to register within 3 months, so that from 1.8.1866 all commercial enterprises in the Hamburg area, with the exception of Ritzebüttel, would have to be entered in the registers of the Commercial Court. In addition, Article 13 of the Commercial Code provides for the publication of all entries in the registers. So far, since October 1847 only the applications provided for in §§ 1 and 3 (2) of the Regulation of 1835 had apparently been published on the basis of an order of the Commercial Court. - In detail and on the other extensions and changes in the tasks of the company office under the Commercial Code see: The Commission reports and further negotiations on the introduction of the General German Commercial Code in Hamburg, p.3-5 (Library A 913/9). The special protocol for cooperatives to be established in accordance with the Genossenschaftsgesetz (Cooperatives Act) was also kept at the Commercial Court in accordance with § 1 of the "Ausführungsverordnung zum Norddeutschen Bundesgesetze betreffend die privatrechtliche Stellung der Erwerbs- und Wirtschaftsgenossenschaften vom 4.Juli 1868" (Implementation Ordinance on the North German Federal Laws concerning the Private Law Status of Acquisition and Economic Cooperatives of 4 July 1868) of 30 November 1868 (Hamburgische Gesetzsammlung Bd.III, p.86-88) from 1 January 1869. In Bergedorf, a separate commercial register was created at the local court from 1.1.1873 (announcement of 29.12.1872, Hamburgische Gesetzsammlung Bd.VIII, p.249-251). With the entry into force of the Reich Law on Trademark Protection of 4.12.1874 on 1.5.1875, the "entry of the trademark of goods" in a register of signs was transferred to the Commercial Court (Announcement of 26.4.1875, Hamburgische Gesetzsammlung Bd.XI, p.52-54). In the following year, due to § 9 of the Reichsgesetz regarding the copyright on designs and models of 11.1.1876 (Reichsgesetzblatt, p.12), the keeping of the design register was added. The Court Constitution Act of 27.1.1877 (Reichsgesetzblatt, p.41) ended the old Hamburg Court Constitution on 1.10.1879. For the tasks of the "Handelsgerichts-Bureau für das Firmen- und Procurenwesen" (Commercial Court Bureau for Companies and Procurators), i.e. keeping the commercial, cooperative, design and trademark registers, the district court was responsible for the Hamburg territory with the exception of the Ritzebüttel and Bergedorf district authorities; for the aforementioned district authorities, the district court concerned was responsible (§ 5 of the Act concerning the non-contentious jurisdiction of 25 July 1879, HamburgischeGesetzsammlung Bd.XV, pp. 253-255). On 1.10.1894 the jurisdiction for the protection of trademarks ended. It was transferred to the Reich Patent Office (Law for the Protection of Waaren Designations of 12.5.1894, Reichegesetzblatt, p.441-448). The Stock Exchange Act of 22.6.1896 (Reichsgesetzblatt, p.157-176) added the maintenance of two stock exchange registers, one for goods and one for securities. For the district courts of Bergedorf and Ritzebüttel, no stock exchange registers were established, but jurisdiction was transferred to the regional court. The registers were kept until the amendment of the Stock Exchange Act in 1908. On 1.1.1900 the "Bureau für die Handels-, Genossenschafts-, Markenschutz- und Mustererschutz-Register" (Bureau for the Commercial, Cooperative, Trademark and Design Protection Registers) transferred its duties to the District Court at the Regional Court (§ 125 of the Reichsgesetz über die freiwillige Gerichtsbarkeit vom 17.5.1898, Reichsgesetzblatt, p.189). Register maintenance Two registers were created on 2.1.1836, the Company Protocol (A 6) and the Procuration Protocol (A 7), on the grounds of the company office. In the company protocol, all registrations provided for by the law, with the exception of procurations, were recorded. This remained essentially the case until the entry into force of the General German Commercial Code. From 1843 to 1856, a special "protocol of foreign companies" (A 8) was kept, in which foreign companies whose owners were temporarily in Hamburg were registered. Parallel to this, from 1843 to 1847 there was a "protocol for procurations by foreign companies" (A 9). The Protocol on Powers of Attorney (A 10), which ran from 1957 until the entry into force of the General German Commercial Code (Allgemeines Deutscher Handelsgesetzbuch), was considerably more comprehensive than the two aforementioned protocols. In contrast to authorised signatories, the persons entered in these minutes were only entitled to represent a company in accordance with the deposited power of attorney. After the entry into force of the General German Commercial Code (Allgemeines Deutscher Handelsgesetzbuch), the company and proxy protocols were declared commercial registers within the meaning of the Code (§ 1 of the transitional provisions to the Introductory Act, Hamburgische Verordnungen Bd.33, p.559). They continued to be guided. A protocol for public limited companies (A 11) has been newly established. In this register, in addition to the joint-stock companies registered so far in the company minutes, the proxies of foreign companies registered so far in the power of attorney minutes were also recorded. Furthermore, until the creation of a special protocol for cooperatives (A 18) on 1 January 1869, "associations" of craftsmen were entered in this protocol. As there had been repeated difficulties with the neighbouring states because of the recognition of extracts from the "Protocols", "Registers" were established on 1.1.1876. The older entries were not transferred. The company register (A 12) for sole traders and the company register (A 13) for open commercial companies and limited partnerships were created as a continuation of the company protocol, as well as the shareholder register II (A 14) for joint stock companies and limited partnerships on shares and the company register III (A 15) for authorised representatives and agents of foreign anonymous companies as a continuation of the company protocol. The protocol of the cooperatives became the register of cooperatives (A 19). Only the Prokura protocol continued to exist under the old name. Until 31.12.1875 15129 numbers had been assigned in the company minutes, 407 numbers in the minutes of the joint-stock companies. For the Company Register and the Company Register I a common numbering was made starting with no. 15130 up to 31.12.1889. From 1.1.1890 onwards, each register beginning with No. 27401 has sequential numbers. The registers of companies resulting from the minutes of joint-stock companies also have a common numbering - beginning with No. 408 - which was maintained until 1904. From 1.6.1885, the Company Register IV (A 16) was created for the branches of foreign companies that had previously been entered in the Company Register II. Finally, in 1895, the Company Register V (A 17) was established for limited liability companies. Until then, they had also been entered in the Company Register II. With the 31.12.1899 the Prokurprotokolle end. The authorized signatories were now entered in the corresponding company register or company register I, as was already the case with anonymous companies. Following the entry into force of the new Commercial Code, the entries previously made in Company Register III (A 15) for authorised representatives of foreign companies were no longer permissible. From now on, the legal entities whose obligation to register is determined in § 33 et seq. of the new Commercial Code of 10 May 1897 (Reichsgesetzblatt, p. 219) were included in this register. (in: Senate Commission for the Administration of Justice, II C d 3 a 1 Vol. 1) the closure of the registers of companies, partnerships and cooperatives was determined. The commercial registers A, B and C and a new cooperative register took their place from 1.1.1905. The contents of the old registers, which were still valid, were gradually transferred to the new registers. The stock exchange and model registers remained unaffected. Delivery, loss of records and order Since 1902, the files due for destruction at the end of the retention periods have been delivered annually to the various registers by the Local Court. The files for all registers were filed by the court after deletion of the entries according to a common Repositioning number sequence - The first delivery of registers (protocols) and lists of names apparently took place in 1910. Further registers and protocols of general content were delivered on 4.1.1933 (G.A. H 2 a 54). The large series reached the State Archives on 11.2.1950. In the years 1951, 1953, 1961 and 1967 smaller subsequent deliveries took place. Losses of records have occurred both at the Local Court and in the State Archives. No registers have yet been delivered to the State Archives: Company Protocol No. 15084 to 15129, Procuration Protocol No. 11767-12016, and Protocol for Joint Stock Companies (No. 1-407). In the State Archives, Volume 2 of the Protocol on Interrogation and Volume 3 of the Protocol on Powers of Attorney were probably destroyed by water damage during the Second World War. The files relating to the registers are also incomplete. Losses occurred due to cassations at the district court and water damage at the state archives. The administrative work now being carried out concerns only the protocols and registers for which delivery directories were previously only partially available. A review of the files and possible cassation of those containing only extracts from the registers was initially postponed. Notes on use 1. running time information The running time information for the registers only takes into account the date on which the respective register sheet was set up. They have therefore been placed in parentheses. However, almost every sheet also contains later entries. 2) Mutual references In the case of entries for a company in different register series, as well as in the case of the creation of new pages (if the old ones were fully written), mutual references have always been made, as far as established. 3. company register II to V The individual volumes frequently also contain entries for shareholders with lower register numbers than can be assumed from the title. Reference is made to such entries in the previous section. 4. directories of names A complete directory of names for all entries is not available, but almost all series are indexed by alphabetical or rough alphabetical directories. An attempt has been made to determine the existing name directories as precisely as possible. Finding the register numbers for corporations is particularly difficult. These companies have been listed very differently in the individual name directories, partly under the company name, partly according to sectors or - without taking the company name into account - under A (joint-stock company). V List of Abbreviations The following abbreviations are used in the protocols and registers: A - Commercial register A (after 1904) AG - Protocol for public limited companies B - Commercial register B (after 1904) C - Commercial register C (after 1904) Cons.Prot. - Consensual Protocol (Protocol on Consent to Continuation of the Company in the Event of Change of Owners) P - Company Protocol or Company Register PF - Protocol of External Companies PF - Company Protocol FR - Company Register G - Company Register or Cooperative Register or Protocol of Cooperatives GR - Company Register HR A - Commercial register A (after 1904) HR B - Commercial register B (after 1904) HR 0 - Commercial register C (after 1904) KP - Collective power of attorney MR - Model register P - Procuration protocol PF - Procuration protocol UB - Judgment book UP - Judgment protocol - Judgment book V - Power of attorney protocol VP - Interrogation protocol Z - (goods) sign register July 1967, Stukenbrock Archival History: The Best. contains the registers kept before 1905 and the files of companies that ceased to exist before 1905, if the content goes substantially beyond the entry in the register. The documents were delivered to the State Archives by the Local Court in 1902, 1933, 1950-1953, 1961 and 1967. The indexing took place successively after the non-archival register files had been sorted out. The retroconversion of the data took place in 2011. The inventory is to be quoted as follows: State Archives Hamburg 231-3 Commercial Register, No. ... Inventory description: In order to prevent the misuse of company names and to be able to determine who is entitled to act on behalf of a company, the obligation for merchants to register the legal relationships of their companies with the commercial court in a register accessible to everyone was introduced on 1 January 1836. However, until 1 August 1866, when the relevant provisions of the Introductory Act to the General German Commercial Code entered into force, the obligation existed only for newly established companies and for them only if the company name and the name of the owner were not identical. The possibility of voluntary registration was given. The company protocol initially established for all entries except procurations was later replaced by registers for each legal form. Special registers were added as cooperative registers (from 1869), sign registers (from 1875), design protection registers (from 1876) and stock exchange registers for goods and securities (from 1896). For each register number, a file was kept which contained documents filed in addition to a copy of the register entry. From 1 October 1879 the registers were kept at the regional court, from 1 January 1900 at the district court in Hamburg. The district courts of Bergedorf and Ritzebüttel kept their own registers for their sprinkles. The registers of companies, societies and cooperatives were closed on 31 December 1904, their still valid contents transferred to the commercial registers and a new cooperative register. The Best. contains the registers kept before 1905 and the files before 1905 of extinct enterprises, if the contents go substantially beyond the register entry.
