Anton Martin Schweigaard (11 April 1808 – 1 February 1870) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

educator,

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and member of the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years base ...

Background

Schweigaard was born at

Kragerø Kragerø () is a town and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional regions of Grenland and the smaller Vestmar. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kragerø. The city of Krager� ...

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

, Norway. He was one of three children of Jørgen Fredrik Schweigaard (1771–1818) and Johanne Marie Dahll (1785–1818). Both parents died when he was 10 years old and the children were raised by their grandmother. He studied law at the

University of Christiania The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

, where he received his degree in 1832. The following year, the Norwegian Parliament gave him a scholarship to study abroad in Germany and France.

Career

When he returned to Norway, he got a position as a lecturer at the

. He was a professor of both

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

and

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

during the 1830s and 1840s. In economic theory, he was an extremely influential

publicist A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for a work such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists who ...

for

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...

, although not a supporter of

Laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. ...

economic ideology. He advocated that the state had an important and necessary role to play in economic life. He is widely credited in helping bring about Norway's change to a

capitalist economy Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private pr ...

. In legal theory, Schweigaard was opposed to the German

and legal philosophy that had dominated Northern Europe since the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

, including

natural law Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...

. He believed that the stark dichotomies of

conceptualism In metaphysics, conceptualism is a theory that explains universality of particulars as conceptualized frameworks situated within the thinking mind. Intermediate between nominalism and realism, the conceptualist view approaches the metaphysical co ...

were misleading. Schweigaard figures prominently the theory of Nordic

legal pragmatism Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...

advanced by Sverre Blandhol, along with

Anders Sandøe Ørsted Anders Sandøe Ørsted (21 December 1778 – 1 May 1860) was a Danish lawyer, politician and jurist. He served as the Prime Minister of Denmark in 1853–1854. Biography He studied philosophy and law at the University of Copenhagen and was ...

and

Friedrich Carl von Savigny Friedrich Carl von Savigny (21 February 1779 – 25 October 1861) was a German jurist and historian. Early life and education Savigny was born at Frankfurt am Main, of a family recorded in the history of Lorraine, deriving its name from the cast ...

. From 1842 to 1869, he was a member of the Norwegian Parliament. His strong belief in the country's economic capabilities made him the leading spokesman in Parliament for construction of railways and development of mail and telegraph services. In 1865, he was elected a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

Selected works

* ''Betragtninger over Retsvidenskabens nærværende Tilstand i Tydskland'' (1834) * ''De la philosophie allemande'' (1835) *''Den norske Handelsret'' (1841) *''Den norske administrative Ret'' (1842)

Personal life

He was married during 1835 to Caroline Magnine Homann (1814-1870). Their son,

Christian Homann Schweigaard Christian Homann Schweigaard (14 October 1838 – 24 March 1899) was a Norwegian politician of the Conservative Party. He served as the 3rd prime minister for two months in 1884, a period after the impeachment of his predecessor Christian August S ...

, became

Prime Minister of Norway The prime minister of Norway ( no, statsminister, which directly translates to "minister of state") is the head of government and chief executive of Norway. The prime minister and Cabinet (consisting of all the most senior government department ...

in 1884. Schweigaard and his wife both died during 1870. Both were buried at

Vår Frelsers gravlund The Cemetery of Our Saviour ( no, Vår Frelsers gravlund) is a cemetery in Oslo, Norway, located north of Hammersborg in Gamle Aker district. It is located adjacent to the older Old Aker Cemetery and was created in 1808 as a result of the great ...

in Christiania (now Oslo).

References

1808 births 1870 deaths Norwegian jurists 19th-century Norwegian politicians Academics of the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo Members of the Storting Norwegian newspaper editors Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 19th-century journalists Male journalists 19th-century Norwegian writers 19th-century Norwegian male writers People from Kragerø {{Norway-politician-1800s-stub