Robert von Mohl (17 August 1799 – 4 November 1875) was a German

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 ...

. Father of diplomat

Ottmar von Mohl Ottmar von Mohl (17 January 1846 – 23 March 1922) was a German diplomat and government advisor in Meiji period Japan. Ottmar von Mohl, born in Tübingen, Germany was the son of famous jurist Robert von Mohl. He studied law at the Univers ...

and salonnière

Anna von Helmholtz Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 12 ...

. Brother of

Hugo von Mohl Hugo von Mohl FFRS HFRSE (8 April 1805 – 1 April 1872) was a German botanist from Stuttgart. He was the first person to use the word "protoplasm". Life He was a son of the Württemberg statesman Benjamin Ferdinand von Mohl (1766–1845), ...

, Moritz Mohl and

Julius von Mohl Julius von Mohl (25 October 1800 – 4 January 1876) was a German Orientalist. Life The brother of Hugo von Mohl and Robert von Mohl, he was born at Stuttgart. He abandoned the idea of entering the Lutheran ministry, and in 1823 went to Pari ...

. From 1824 to 1845 he was professor of political sciences at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

, losing his position because of some frank criticisms which brought him under the displeasure of the authorities of

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

. In 1847 he was a member of the parliament of Württemberg, and in the same year he was appointed professor of law at

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 ...

; in 1848 he was a member of the German Parliament which met at

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

and for a few months he was minister of justice. He was also a member of parliament in the Reichstag. From 1827 to 1846, he was a professor of ''Staatswissenschaften'' (political science and political economics) of the

. Robert von Mohl was one of the first to coin the term of a ''

Rechtsstaat ''Rechtsstaat'' (lit. "state of law"; "legal state") is a doctrine in continental European legal thinking, originating in Dutch and German jurisprudence. It can be translated into English as "rule of law", alternatively "legal state", state of ...

'', or constitutional state, as opposed to the "anti-

aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word's ...

police state A police state describes a state where its government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the exe ...

and the judicially activist "justice state". His later public life was passed in the service of the Friedrich I, Grand Duke of Baden, whom he represented as ambassador in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

from 1867 to 1871. Through

Kato Hiroyuki Kato or Katō may refer to: Places *Kato, Guyana, a village in Guyana *Katō, Hyōgo, a city in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan *Katō District, Hokkaido, a district located in Tokachi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan * Katowice, a city in Southern Poland, ...

and other Japanese thinkers and statesmen, his works influenced the Japanese state philosophy after the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

Works

* ''Die Polizei-Wissenschaft nach den Grundsätzen des Rechtsstaates'' (''Police science according to the principles of the constitutional state'') * ''Encyklopädie der Staatswissenschaften'' (''Encyclopedia of

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 ...

s and

political economics Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour mar ...

'') * ''Staatsrecht, Völkerrecht und Politik'' (''

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 ...

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

and politics'')

References

External links

Excerpt from Mohl's ''Lebenserinnerungen'' (''autobiography'')

Article ''Mohl''
in the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie {{DEFAULTSORT:Mohl, Robert Von 1799 births 1875 deaths Politicians from Stuttgart People from the Duchy of Württemberg Württembergian nobility German Lutherans Imperial Liberal Party politicians Members of the Frankfurt Parliament Members of the Württembergian Chamber of Deputies Members of the 2nd Reichstag of the German Empire Jurists from Stuttgart Heidelberg University alumni Heidelberg University faculty University of Göttingen alumni University of Tübingen alumni University of Tübingen faculty Von Mohl family 19th-century Lutherans