Anders Sandøe Ørsted (21 December 1778 – 1 May 1860) was a Danish

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicit ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

and

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 U ...

. He served as the

Prime Minister of Denmark The prime minister of Denmark ( da, Danmarks statsminister, fo, Forsætisráðharri, kl, Ministeriuneq) is the head of government in the Kingdom of Denmark comprising the three constituent countries: Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Island ...

in 1853–1854.

Biography

He studied philosophy and law at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

and was admitted to the bar in 1799. He became a noted jurist. An early case overseen by him was that of

Hans Jonatan Hans Jonatan (1784– 18 December 1827; also known as Hans Jonathan) was an escaped slave, soldier, farmer and trader. Following his participation in the Battle of Copenhagen, after which he was initially given his freedom, he became the subject ...

, an escaped slave, which was (at least viewed retrospectively) a major test case in Danish law on slavery; Anders condemned Hans to be returned to the West Indies, where he had been purchased (Hof-og Stadsret: ''Generalmajorinde Henriette de Schimmelmann contra mulatten Hans Jonathan 1802''). Relatively early, he was connected to the national administration, and from 1825 to 1848, he was “''generalprokurør''” (juridical adviser of the government). He drew up the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

which was granted in 1831. He was cabinet minister 1842–48, and from October 1853 to December 1854 was prime minister. He was forced to resign from his office as prime minister by his unpopular conservatism, a distinct departure from his earlier politics. In 1855, he was impeached on the charge of breaking the constitution, but he was acquitted and retired to private life.

Analysis

He is considered one of the most important jurists in 19th century Danish legal history. He was a pioneer of connecting

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 ...

and practice, and both as a judge and as an author, he successfully worked on making practice the foundation of legislation. His political career was one of paradoxes. As a royal councillor of the absolute monarchy, he was rather liberal and tolerant and therefore often unpopular with the more conservative elements. As the opposition grew stronger however, he became more conservative and as prime minister, he was considered a full-blood reactionary. His attempt to charter a very conservative constitution led to cooperation between the king and the liberals that forced him to resign.

Literary works

Throughout his career Ørsted was a prolific writer. Among other things he wrote on

Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aest ...

ian and

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...

ian philosophy, on Danish and Norwegian law, on

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...

n politics (1857) and left an autobiography (1856). He was also the editor of several journals, most notable ''Juridisk Arkiv'' (1804-1812), ''Nyt Juridisk Arkiv'' (1812-1830) and ''Juridisk Tidsskrift'' (1820-1840), as well as the official government periodical publication ''Collegial-Tidende'' (1815-34 co-edited with Peter Johan Monrad, and exclusively by Ørsted 1834–1848).

Family

He was the brother of noted physicist

Hans Christian Ørsted Hans Christian Ørsted ( , ; often rendered Oersted in English; 14 August 17779 March 1851) was a Danish physicist and chemist who discovered that electric currents create magnetic fields, which was the first connection found between electricit ...

(1777–1851), and uncle of the botanist Anders Sandøe Ørsted (1816–1872). He was married to Sophie Ørsted née Oehlenschläger (1782–1818) and was the brother-in-law of

Adam Oehlenschläger Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger (14 November 177920 January 1850) was a Danish poet and playwright. He introduced romanticism into Danish literature. He wrote the lyrics to the song ''Der er et yndigt land'', which is one of the national anthems ...

References

Other sources

*''Dansk Biografisk Leksikon'', vol. 16, 1984. *Svend Thorsen: ''De danske ministerier'', vol 1., Copenh. 1967. *
List of Danish Prime Ministers Since 1848
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orsted, Anders Sandoe 1778 births 1860 deaths 19th-century Danish jurists 19th-century Danish lawyers 19th-century Danish politicians People from Langeland Municipality Danish Interior Ministers Danish Kultus Ministers Prime Ministers of Denmark Members of the Landsting (Denmark) University of Copenhagen alumni Members of the Constituent Assembly of Denmark