practical reform of penal legislation in Bavaria was begun under his influence in 1806 by the abolition of torture. Out of his practical experience in the Ministry of Justice with evaluating death penalties by Bavarian courts for royal pardon he published the most notable cases 1808/11 in Merkwürdige Criminalfälle and 1828/29 a much enlarged collection Aktenmäßige Darstellung merkwürdiger Verbrechen (Notable crimes presented according to the court records). With this legal handbook of criminal cases in the tradition of the famous "Causes Célèbres" of the French lawyer Gayot de Pitaval (1673–1743) Feuerbach intend to establish a modern criminal psychology ("Seelenkunde") for crime investigation, criminal judges, etc. In the course of time, his work has been misinterpreted merely as a literary collection of fictional sensational crimes and many of his court cases have been edited and published as trivial popular crime stories. However, Gerold Schmidt has newly researched that Feuerbach has recorded true historical events at true localities and persons with their real names etc. and that, therefore, his work is a rich historical source for Bavarian local and social history, mentality, biography etc. In his Betrachtungen über das Geschworenengericht of 1811, Feuerbach declared against trial by jury, maintaining that the verdict of a jury was not adequate legal proof of a crime. Much controversy was aroused on the subject, and the author's view was subsequently to some extent modified. The result of his labours on the Bavarian penal code was promulgated in 1813. The influence of this code, the embodiment of Feuerbach's enlightened views, was immense. It was at once made the basis for new codes in Württemberg and Saxe-Weimar; it was adopted in its entirety in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg; and it was translated into Swedish by order of the king. Several of the Swiss cantons reformed their codes in conformity with it. Feuerbach had also undertaken to prepare a civil code for Bavaria, to be founded on the Code Napoléon. This was afterwards set aside, and the Codex Maximilianus adopted as a basis. But the project did not become law. During the war of liberation (1813–1814), Feuerbach showed himself an ardent patriot, and published several political brochures. In 1814 Feuerbach was appointed second president of the court of appeal at Bamberg, and three years later he became first president of the court of appeal at Ansbach. In 1821 he was deputed by the government to visit France, Belgium,