The Prussian Fluchtliniengesetz of 1875 empowered municipalities to fix the alignment of streets and building lines (Fluchtlinien) through legally binding plans, governing where streets would run and how far back buildings had to stand. It allowed towns to lay out and dedicate streets in advance of development, to levy contributions from owners who benefited, and to acquire the land needed for the public right of way. It became the principal legal instrument behind the great extension plans of rapidly growing German cities, including James Hobrecht's plan for Berlin. The law shaped the perimeter-block tenement districts that came to define the German metropolis.
It gave German cities a workable statutory tool to plan and finance street networks ahead of building, making it a foundational instrument of modern continental town extension.
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