Albert Hänel (10 June 1833, in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

– 12 May 1918, in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

) was a German jurist, legal historian and liberal

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. He was one of the leaders of the

German Progress Party The German Progress Party (german: Deutsche Fortschrittspartei, DFP) was the first modern political party in Germany, founded by liberal members of the Prussian House of Representatives () in 1861 in opposition to Minister President Otto von Bism ...

, and served as Rector of the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...

. He served as a member of the Prussian Chamber of Deputies, the

Reichstag of the North German Confederation The Reichstag () of the North German Confederation was the federal state's lower house of parliament. The popularly elected Reichstag was responsible for federal legislation together with the Bundesrat, the upper house whose members were appoi ...

and the Imperial Reichstag, and was Vice President of both the Prussian Chamber of Deputies and the Imperial Reichstag.

Biography

Hänel was born in Leipzig. He studied at

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

. The dramatist and politician

Heinrich Laube Heinrich Laube (18 September 1806 – 1 August 1884), German dramatist, novelist and theatre-director, was born at Sprottau in Prussian Silesia. Life He studied theology at Halle and Breslau (1826–1829), and settled in Leipzig in 1832. Here he ...

was his stepfather. In 1860 he became Professor of Jurisprudence at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Pruss ...

and in 1863 at the

. He served as Rector of the University of Kiel during 1892–1893. One of the founders of the Liberal Party in

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...

after the annexation of the duchies to Prussia in 1866, he was elected to the Prussian Chamber of Deputies and the Reichstag of the

North German Confederation The North German Confederation (german: Norddeutscher Bund) was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated st ...

, and subsequently to the Imperial Reichstag. He became known as a leader of the so-called “Fortschrittspartei” or Progressists. After the fusion with the Secessionists in 1884, “Fortschrittspartei” was styled as the “Deutschfreisinnige Partei.” Upon the breakup of the party in 1893, he represented the ‘ Freisinnige Vereinigung’ (Liberal Union), but in the elections of the same year to the Reichstag he was defeated by the Social-Democratic candidate. In 1898 he was reelected. He was married to Bertha von Hosstrup (1814–1902), a daughter of

Gerhard von Hosstrup Gerhard Carsten Jakob von Hosstrup (or Hoßtrup) (born 23 April 1771 in Hamburg, died 7 September 1851) was a Hamburg businessman and the founder of the Hamburg Stock Exchange building (Hamburger Börsenhalle). He became ''Oberalter'' in 1843. ...

and granddaughter of

Ludwig Erdwin Seyler Ludwig Erdwin Seyler (15 May 1758 – 26 October 1836; often known as ''L.E. Seyler'') was a German banker, merchant and politician. He was by marriage a member of the Hanseatic Berenberg banking dynasty, and was a partner in the Hamburg firm Jo ...

Works

Hänel's writings about the German Empire as a

federal state A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

and public law in general are characterized by his

constitutionalism Constitutionalism is "a compound of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law". Political organizations are constitutional ...

and opposition of

legal positivism Legal positivism (as understood in the Anglosphere) is a school of thought of analytical jurisprudence developed largely by legal philosophers during the 18th and 19th centuries, such as Jeremy Bentham and John Austin. While Bentham and Austin de ...

. He significally influenced

Heinrich Triepel Heinrich Triepel (12 February 1868, Leipzig – 23 November 1946 in Untergrainau) was a German jurist and legal philosopher. Life From 1913, he was professor of law in Berlin. He took critical aim at legal positivism, which at the time was t ...

, Rudolf Smend, Erich Kaufmann and Hermann Heller. His writings include: * ''Studien zum deutschen Staatsrecht'' (1873-1888) ** ''Studie 1: Die vertragsmässigen Elemente der deutschen Reichsverfassung'' (1873) ** ''Studie 2,1: Die organisatorische Entwicklung der Deutschen Reichsverfassung'' (1880) ** ''Studie 2,2: Das Gesetz im formellen und materiellen Sinne'' (1888) * ''Die Gesetzgebung des deutschen Reichs über Konsularwesen und Seeschiffahrt'' (1875) * ''Deutsches Staatsrecht'' (1892)

Notes

References