Fritz Neumayer

 ( 1884 Births ) 

After the death of the liberal minister for building, Hermann-Eberhard Wildermuth, in 1952, Neumayer led the ministry until the 1953 West German federal election. After the election, he became Federal Minister of Justice, and worked primarily on reforming the criminal law. He furthered judicial gender equality with a law of early 1954, though "according to the natural order""...nach der natürlichen Ordnung". Fritz Neumayer as cited in Bänsch (1985), p.427 granting a husband the right to issue binding decisions for his spouse if the wellbeing of the family was not endangered.Bänsch (1985), p.427

Neumayer also furthered an extension to the amnesty of 1949, resulting in the amnesty law of 17 July 1954.Schröm (2002), p.86Frei (1996), pp.102-103 In Neumayer's words, the law was to "rule off crimes committed directly or collaterally in the context of the conditions of a chaotic time period"."...einen Schlußstrich unter die Straftaten ziehen, die in unmittelbarem und mittelbarem Zusammenhang mit den Verhältnissen einer chaotischen Zeit begangen worden sind." Fritz Neumayer, as cited in Schröm (2002), p.86 and Frei (1996), p.102 Amnestied were people convicted of crimes up to manslaughter, but not murder, committed between 1 October 1944 and 31 July 1945 in the assumption of a legitimacy of their action, especially by following orders,Freudiger (2002), p.22 or out of an emergency. The law also provided for the clearance of several such crimes in the official registries.Freudiger (2002), p.23Frei (1996), p.126

In 1956, Neumayer together with all other liberal federal ministers left the FDP to join the newly founded Freie Volkspartei (FVP). In the same year, West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer dismissed him from his office, giving his high age as the reason.