Oscar Ludvig Stoud Platou (16 July 1845 – 17 January 1929) was a Norwegian jurist. After fourteen years as an assessor in

Oslo City Court Oslo District Court ( no, Oslo tingrett) is a district court located in Oslo, Norway. This court is based at the Oslo Courthouse in the city of Oslo. The court serves the entire city of Oslo and the court is subordinate to the Borgarting Court o ...

from 1876 to 1890, he was a professor at the

Royal Frederick University 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 ...

from 1890 to 1920.

Personal life

He was born in Christiania as the son of

Frederik Christian Stoud Platou Frederik Christian Stoud Platou (17 February 1811 – 23 June 1891) was a Norwegian legal scholar, Supreme Court justice, district stipendiary magistrate and politician. Personal life He was born in Christiania as a son of educator, professor, pol ...

(1811–1891). and his wife Constance Henriette Reiersen (1820–1893). He was a grandson of Ludvig Stoud Platou, nephew of

Carl Nicolai Stoud Platou Carl Nicolai Stoud Platou (26 June 1809 – 11 September 1888) was a Norwegian civil servant and politician. Personal life He was born in Oslo, Christiania as a son of educator, professor, politician and State Secretary Ludvig Stoud Platou (1749 ...

, first cousin of

Lars Lars is a common male name in Scandinavian countries. Origin ''Lars'' means "from the city of Laurentum". Lars is derived from the Latin name Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum" or "crowned with laurel". A homonymous Etruscan name was bo ...

and Valborg Platou, second cousin of Gabriel Andreas Stoud Platou, Christian Emil Stoud Platou and

Waldemar Stoud Platou Waldemar Stoud Platou (11 August 1868 – 13 July 1930) was a Norwegian businessperson. He had a long career in the brewery industry. Personal life He was born in Furnes as the son of banker Christian Fredrik Stoud Platou (1824–1883) and Elise ...

and first cousin once removed of Carl Platou. In November 1876 in Kristiania he married Emma Collett (1850–1934), a daughter of

Johan Christian Collett Johan Christian Collett (23 July 1817 – 29 April 1895) was a Norwegian politician.

Career

Platou finished his secondary education at Christiania Cathedral School in 1863, enrolled at the university and took the cand.jur. degree in 1869. He was a deputy judge under his father in Nes District Court from 1870 to 1871, and was then hired at the University Library of Christiania. From 1872 to 1874 he studied in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

with a scholarship. In 1875, he won the ''

Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wi ...

Gold Medal'' for the thesis ''Det navngivne Handelsselskabs Retsforhold ligeoverfor Tredjemand'', which also earned him the dr.juris degree in 1876. In 1875 Platou applied to become professor of jurisprudence, but lost out to

Bernhard Getz Bernhard Getz (21 March 1850 – 1 November 1901) was a Norwegian judge, professor, law reformer and Mayor of Oslo. He was born at Strinda in Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. He was the son of merchant Anton Lauritz Getz (1817–68) and Anna Chris ...

. He instead became assessor in

in 1876. He also wrote the work ''Om Livsforsikringskontraktens Natur'' on

insurance law Insurance law is the practice of law surrounding insurance, including insurance policies and claims. It can be broadly broken into three categories - regulation of the business of insurance; regulation of the content of insurance policies, especial ...

, released in 1887. He was a member of several law-preparing commissions. His ideal was

Roman law Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Ju ...

, and he regarded the attempts of making Norwegian laws without using Roman law as "smelling of

whey Whey is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a byproduct of the manufacturing of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is a byproduct resulting from the manufacture of rennet types of har ...

cheese". In October 1890 he was finally appointed as a professor of jurisprudence at the

. He was a productive author, with works such as ''Forelæsninger over norsk Arveret'' (1899,

inheritance law Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officially ...

), ''Forelæsninger over Ægteskabs Stiftelse og Skilsmisse'' (1899, marital law), ''Forelæsninger over norsk Søret'' (1900, maritime law), ''Forelæsninger over norsk Selskabsret'' (two volumes 1906 and 1911, corporate law), ''Umyndiges Retshandler'' (1911), ''Forelæsninger over udvalgte Emner af Privatrettens almindelige Del'' (two volumes 1912 and 1914) and ''Forelæsninger over Retskildernes Theori'' (1915). It has been noted that these works were "qualitatively of highly inequal value", with ''Forelæsninger over norsk Arveret'' and ''Forelæsninger over norsk Søret'' being the most important. Platou also co-founded the Comité Maritime International in 1897, and was one of the vice president in the

International Law Association The International Law Association (ILA) is a non-profit organisation based in Great Britain that — according to its constitution — promotes "the study, clarification and development of international law" and "the furtherance of international ...

from 1907. He developed an eye disease in 1910, and became blind in 1915. Despite this he continued as a professor for five years. He retired in 1920.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Platou, Oscar Ludvig Stoud 1845 births 1929 deaths Judges from Oslo Norwegian legal scholars Academic staff of the University of Oslo Oscar Ludvig Stoud Norwegian blind people Blind scholars and academics Blind lawyers