Frans Friedrich Ludwig Ulrich Last (1 July 1822 – 10 March 1883) was a Dutch

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 ...

who served as

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

( Dutch: ''procureur-generaal'') at the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

of the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

Biography

Frans Last was born in

Elmina Elmina, also known as Edina by the local Fante people, Fante, is a town and the capital of the Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem Municipal District, Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem District on the south coast of Ghana in the Central Region, Ghana, Centra ...

to colonial administrator

Friedrich Last Friedrich Franz Ludwich Ulrich Last (born 3 January 1786 – 7 May 1833) was a colonial administrator on the Gold Coast. Biography Friedrich Last was born in Rostock to Johann Christian Last and Catharina Maria Deichman. He was appointed ...

and the Euro-African innkeeper Elisabeth Atteveld. He grew up in

Kampen Campen or Kampen may refer to: Places Finland * Kampen, the Swedish name of Kamppi, a district in Helsinki Germany * Campen, Germany, a village by the Ems estuary, northwestern Germany, home of the Campen Lighthouse * Campen Castle, a part ...

, where he lived with his stepmother Petronella Johanna Aleida van Vlierden. Frans Last gained a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

on 8 November 1845, and was on 31 December 1848 appointed official first class (Dutch: ''ambtenaar eerste klasse'') in the Dutch East Indies, and subsequently installed as

court clerk A court clerk (British English: clerk to the court or clerk of the court ; American English: clerk of the court or clerk of court ) is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining records of a court, administer oaths to witn ...

(Dutch: ''griffier'') at the Circuit Court (Dutch: ''Rechtbank van Ommegang'') on Java. On 12 February 1850, he was promoted to substitute officer at the Council of Justice in Surabaya. He was moved to the Council of Justice in Batavia in February 1852, and became a full member of that council on 13 August 1852. On 28 April 1854 a promotion to advocate-general at the Supreme Court of the Dutch East Indies followed. On 26 May 1858, Frans Last was appointed judge at the said court. Frans Last published a compendium of Dutch East Indies law in 1860, and a revised second edition in 1872. Between April 1864 and November 1865, Last was on European leave. Upon his return to the Dutch East Indies, Last was instructed on 27 June 1866 to draft a penal code for natives and non-Europeans in the Dutch East Indies, based on the penal code for Europeans adopted earlier that year. Last was not convinced of his mandate however, and argued in a letter to the Governor-General that the penal code for Europeans, which in turn was based on the Napoleonic French penal code, was unsuitable for implementation in Javanese society. As a consequence, Last was relieved of his task in 1868. He had already again been appointed judge at the supreme court on 23 April 1867. In August 1869, Last was appointed president of the Council of Justice of Batavia, and in October 1872, he returned to the supreme court as Attorney General. On 12 April 1879, Last returned to Europe due to illness. Frans Last was made Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion on 12 May 1874. He died in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

at age 60.

Decoration

*Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion (1874)

Personal life

Frans Last married Ida Catharina Wilhelmina Elisabeth Carlier on 13 October 1852 in .Javasche Courant
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carte de visite The ''carte de visite'' (, visiting card), abbreviated CdV, was a type of small photograph which was patented in Paris by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, although first used by Louis Dodero. Each photograph was the size o ...

of Frans Last can be found in the photoalbum of John F. Loudon, which is kept in the print room of

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Last, Franz Friedrich Ludwig Ulrich 1822 births 1883 deaths People from Elmina Dutch jurists