Johann Philipp Gustav von Ewers or Evers (27 July 1779 – 20 November 1830) was a German legal historian and the founder of Russian legal history as a scholarly discipline. Ewers was a farmer’s son from the village of Amelunxen (now a part of

Beverungen Beverungen () is a town in Höxter district in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Location Beverungen lies in the Weser Uplands on the side of the Weser opposite Solling roughly 10 km south of Höxter. In parts of the eastern mu ...

) in the Bishopric of Paderborn. He first studied

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and then

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

. His first employment, as was customary for a graduate from a poor background, was as a private tutor. This brought him to the

Imperial Russian The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...

province of Livonia, where he was to remain for the rest of his life. While teaching, he pursued his scholarly interests, especially regarding Russian political and legal history, which became one of his main fields of study – one indeed of which he is often regarded the founder. Influenced by the Hegelian definition of society and state, he described the traditional tribal structure of Russia as the foundation of Russian statehood, most notably in this 1826 monograph ''Das älteste Recht der Russen''. Evers' ideas have found a continued reception among Russian legal theorists. On the basis of his publications, he was offered in 1810 the Chair of

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

Statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...

, and

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

of the Russian State at the University of Dorpat (now

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

) in what is today

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. He occupied that chair until 1826, when he transferred to the law faculty. In 1816, Ewers declined an offer of the Chair of

Political Economy Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...

at the newly founded

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

. In the same year, he had become Prorector of the University of Dorpat and in 1818,

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

, to which office he was re-elected every year until his death at Dorpat in 1830, aged 51.

Selected works

*''Provisorische Verfassung des Bauernstandes in Estland.'' 1805, 1806. *''Vom Ursprung des Russischen Staats.'' 1808 *''Unangenehme Erinnerungen an August Ludwig Schlözer.'' 1810. *''Kritische Vorarbeiten zur Geschichte der Russen'', 2 vols., 1814. *''Geschichte der Russen'', vol. 1. 1816. *''Das älteste Recht der Russen in seiner geschichtlichen Entwicklung.'' 1826. *''Rhapsodische Gedanken über die wissenschaftliche Bedeutung des Naturrechts.'' 1828.

References

External links

Ostdeutsche Biographie

EEVA
(Biography, Full texts, Image, Bibliography) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ewers, Gustav von 1781 births 1830 deaths People from Höxter (district) Baltic-German people 19th-century German historians Jurists from North Rhine-Westphalia Russian lawyers Estonian scholars University of Göttingen alumni Academic staff of the University of Tartu Legal historians Rectors of the University of Tartu Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences German male non-fiction writers

Selected works

Further reading

References

External links