Johann Baptist Suttinger is one of the most important representatives of Austrian jurisprudence of his time. His works on Austrian customary law and Roman common judicial law remained valuable guides for judi-cial practice for generations of Austrian jurists in reprints. His draft of a provincial code for Lower Austria (c. 1650) remained in use in individual legal statutes and provided valuable material for the compilation commission established in 1753 for its initial work on the codifications of natural law.
After completing his law studies in Vienna and a brief period of practice as a lawyer, Suttinger began a career in the service of the archduke and the provincial estates of Lower Austria, rising to the highest offices in each of these areas. Eventually, the archduke admitted him to the ranks of the provincial estates. Starting with a small manorial estate in Brunn am Gebirge (“Turmhof“) he managed to build up a considerable po-sition as a holder of local sovereign rights in the area south of Vienna, where he and his wife owned a house in a prominent location (Kohlmarkt). Although he had no male offspring, his daughter‘s two marriages put him in touch with two important families of the Lower Austrian nobility, the Pergens and the Volkchras.
Suttinger was an extremely pious man. He was a member of several religious brotherhoods and served as a patron of important religious orders. He distinguished himself also as a patron in social matters, supporting children in need (giving them baptism gifts) and poor students (by establishing a foundation). For a good decade, he served as the princely superintendent of the university.
Suttinger‘s material assets were all sold by his heirs (eight grandchildren from his daughter‘s two marriages), thus alienating them from the family until the beginning of the 18th century. His foundation at the university existed only for about 100 years. Today, only the family crypt in St. Michael‘s Church near the Archdukes Palace in Vienna remains as a reminder of the existence of this jurist, who was so important in his time.
