Gerhard Anschütz (10 January 1867 in
Halle (Saale)
Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (; from the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''; until the beginning of the 20th century: ''Halle an der Saale'' ; from 1965 to 1995: ''Halle/Saale'') is the largest city of the Germany, German States of ...
– 14 April 1948 in
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 ...
) was a noted
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
teacher of
constitutional law
Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...
and the leading commentator of the
Weimar Constitution
The Constitution of the German Reich (german: Die Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs), usually known as the Weimar Constitution (''Weimarer Verfassung''), was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic era (1919–1933). The c ...
. His principal work (with
Richard Thoma) is the two-volume legal encyclopedia ''Handbuch des deutschen Staatsrechts''; his constitutional commentary saw 14 editions during the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
.
Anschütz, a proponent 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 ...
, taught constitutional law in
Tübingen
Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...
(after 1899),
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 ...
(1900),
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
(1908) and again Heidelberg (1916). A Democrat by conviction even during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he resigned his teaching position in 1933 after the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
s
seized power. After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he served as a consultant to the
US military government and in this position was one of the fathers of the constitution of the
Bundesland Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
.
Selected literature
* Georg Meyer, ''Lehrbuch des Deutschen Staatsrechts'', bearbeitet von Gerhard Anschütz, 6. Auflage, Leipzig, 1905
* Gerhard Anschütz: ''Rezension von Hugo Preuß: Das deutsche Volk und die Politik'', in: Preußische Jahrbücher, S. 164, 1916
* Gerhard Anschütz und Richard Thoma (Hrsg.): ''Handbuch des deutschen Staatsrechts'', 2 Bände, Tübingen 1932.
* Gerhard Anschütz: ''Die Verfassung des Deutschen Reiches vom 11. August 1919''. Ein Kommentar für Wissenschaft und Praxis, 14. Aufl., Berlin 1933
* Gerhard Anschütz, ''Aus meinen Leben''. Erinnerungen von Gerhard Anschütz, herausgegeben und eingeleitet von Walter Pauly, Frankfurt/Main (1993)
Further reading
*
Ernst Forsthoff
Ernst Forsthoff (13 September 1902, in Laar – 13 August 1974, in Heidelberg) was a German scholar of constitutional law and a leading theorist of administrative law.
Life
Forsthoff, the son of pastor , was called to teach law at the Johann Wo ...
, 'Gerhard Anschütz', ''Der Staat'' 6, 1967
*
Horst Dreier
Horst Dreier (born 7 September 1954) is a German jurist and legal philosopher. He currently holds a chair at the University of Würzburg. In 2008 he was the initial candidate to replace Winfried Hassemer at the Federal Constitutional Court of Ger ...
, ''Ein Staatsrechtslehrer in Zeiten des Umbruchs: Gerhard Anschütz (1867–1948)'', in: ZNR 20 (1998) S. 28–48
* Walter Pauly, "Gerhard Anschütz. An Introduction", in: Arthur Jacobson and Bernhard Schlink (Ed.): ''Weimar, A Jurisprudence of Crisis'', 2001
References
*
1867 births
1948 deaths
Jurists from Saxony-Anhalt
Writers from Halle (Saale)
People from the Province of Saxony
Academic staff of the University of Tübingen
Academic staff of Heidelberg University
Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin
20th-century jurists
{{Germany-academic-bio-stub