Bentheim County from the Beginning to the Present : Introduction of the Hannoverian Administrative and Legal Constitution on May 24, 1824 

That the circumstances regarding the territorial sovereignty of the Princes of Bentheim and Steinfurt, pursuant to federal acts and in accordance with laws decreed in other states were to be controlled was reflected in the royal decree of April 18, 1823. Subsequently, the Princes in Graftschaft Bentheim would be granted a Standesherrschaft with precisely defined (subordinate) governing rights, which included important police powers, the control over municipal, religious, and educational services, as well as forest and border police jurisdiction. Their station was turned into that of a noble senior civil servant. The function of the royal administration in Bentheim ended, a royal commissioner's office was established in Benthieim in its place to carry out rights reserved to the state, over which the Landdrostei Osnabrück was in charge.

Only with the settlement of the lordly rights was Hannover free to insert Bentheim into an administrative organization already well established in other lands. In addition, the king decreed on May 20, 1824 the edict over the Administrative and Legal Constitution in Bentheim county, which, because it was too large for a single district, was divided according to the recommendation of the Prince into the two princely Bentheim Mediat-Aemter Bentheim and Neuenhaus. For each district a baillif and a district assessor were appointed. All parishes in the upper county (with the exception of Nordhorn), the city of Schüttorf and the Bentheim Flecken belonged to the Bentheim district, while the parishes of the lower county, the city of Neuenhaus as well as the parish of Nordhorn and the Wietmarschen community were added to the Neuenhas district. Within the districts the parish communities were merged into bailiwicks after the abolition of the Cantonal unions dating back to the French period. In each of the three cities of Schüttorf, Nordhorn and Neuenhaus and in the Bentheim Flecken should be a magistrate responsibile for local administration, the villages and flat lands fell to the bailifs. The activities of the Bentheim districts were matched to the king's, in other words, they had the same judicial and administrative duties, namely the administration of justice as well as the sovereign and police administration of first recourse. The smaller Bentheim district was at the same time the criminal investigation bureau for the county. A lordly Bentheim Justice Chancellery for Bentheim county with a chancellor, two assessors with voting power and a secretary corresponding to the will of the Princes was set up as the appellate court.

The edict over the new organization came into effect on September 1, 1824. On this day, the royal commissioner Duncker, in the presence of princely court counselor Bornemann conducted the installation of the two Mediatämter and the lordly chancellery.
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