ABSTRACT
A close look at the works of Johann Heinrich Gottlob Justi (1717-1771), a German cameralist of the second part of the eighteenth century, shows he did not use the term “reform”, but “improvement” (“Verbesserung”). This chapter argues that he conceived and used the term “Verbesserung” as both a legal term and legal norm. This forms his idea of “Verbesserung” as a well-planned and structured political process led by authority (e.g. government/sovereign) and by means of legislation. As a result, this created a high grade of quality for both obligation and sustainability for the sought “Verbesserung”. The chapter aims to explain the benefits of using “Verbesserung” as a legal term. Languages of reform also need to be considered in regard to strategies of reform. The chapter assumes that the cameralistic argumentation on the necessity and possibility of change and reform was based on models, intentionally used and constructed for the reforming object. It shows that these cameralistic models were both discussed between old (antiquity) and new (contemporary times) and domestic (Europe) and foreign (China) visions. Concentrating on the language of reform and the model construction, the chapter is based on Justi’s suggestions to reform agriculture in the 1760s to prevent famine.
