in germany,this is the case for all juridical and,increasingly,for all administrative officials.
within the bureaucracy,therefore,the measure of "independence",legally guaranteed by tenure,is not always a source of increased status for the official whose position is thus secured. indeed,often the reverse holds,especially in old cultures and communities that are highly differentiated. in such communities,the stricter the subordination under the arbitrary rule of the master,the more it guarantees the maintenance of the conventional seigneurial style of living for the official. because of the very absence of these legal guarantees of tenure,the conventional esteem for the official may rise in the same way as,during the middle ages,the esteem of the nobility of office rose at the expense of esteem for the freemen,and as the king's judge surpassed that of the people's judge. in germany,the military officer or the administrative official can be removed from office at any time,or at least far more readily than the "independent judge" who never pays with loss of his office for even the grossest offense against the "code of honor" or against social convention of the salon.