Moritz Klotz (6 August 1813 – 11 August 1892) was a Berlin

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

who became a politician in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

and, after 1871, in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. His unusually long political career provides a line of continuity between the idealistic liberalisms of 1848 and the

political liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...

that manifested itself in

after unification.

Life

Klotz was born into a Protestant family in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

during the closing years of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. He attended secondary school (''Gymnasium'') in Potsdam and then went on to study

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 ...

at the university in nearby

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 ...

between 1831 and 1834. He was articled in 1836, and in 1840 he had was appointed a junior judge (''Kammergerichtsassessor'') in the second Berlin district court, later becoming a Special Commissioner with the Berlin General Commission. In 1848 Moritz Klotz was one of the members of the short-lived

Prussian National Assembly The Prussian National Assembly (German: ''Preußische Nationalversammlung''), came into being after the revolution of 1848 and was tasked with drawing up a constitution for Prussia. It first met in the building of the '' Sing-Akademie zu Berlin ...

in Berlin. Following the end of the reactionary period that ensued, in 1860 he became a member of the

Prussian House of Representatives The Prussian House of Representatives (german: Preußisches Abgeordnetenhaus) was the lower chamber of the Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag), the parliament of Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the upper house, the House of ...

till 1866, and then again between 1869 and his death in 1892. Between 1877 and 1879 he served as the first vice-president of the parliament. Initially he was a member of the faction headed up by

Georg von Vincke Georg von Vincke (5 May 1811 – 3 June 1875) was a Prussian politician, officer, landowner and aristocrat of the Vincke family. As a political figure he was associated with the Old Liberals. Biography He was born in Hagen. He was the son of Ludw ...

, which subsequently came to be identified as the "Old Liberal" (''Altliberale'') grouping. Moritz himself later joined the

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

, founded in 1861, then switching in the 1880s to the short-lived Free-minded Party (''Deutsche Freisinnige Partei''). Between 1871 and 1884, and then again between 1886 and 1890, he also served as a member of the National Reichstag.Fritz Specht, Paul Schwabe: ''Die Reichstagswahlen von 1867 bis 1903. Eine Statistik der Reichstagswahlen nebst den Programmen der Parteien und einem Verzeichnis der gewählten Abgeordneten.'' 2nd edition., Verlag Carl Heymann, Berlin 1904, pp. 24f, 29 und 24.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klotz, Moritz 1813 births 1892 deaths People from Potsdam People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg German Protestants German Progress Party politicians German Free-minded Party politicians Members of the Prussian House of Representatives Members of the 1st Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 2nd Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 3rd Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 4th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 5th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 7th Reichstag of the German Empire German revolutions of 1848–1849 Members of the Prussian National Assembly