Eduard Gans (March 22, 1797 – May 5, 1839) was a German jurist.

Biography

Gans was born in

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 ...

to prosperous

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish parents. He studied law first at the Friedrich Wilhelm University,

, then at

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

, and finally 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 ...

, where he attended

G. W. F. 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 ...

's lectures, and became thoroughly imbued with the principles of Hegel's

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

. In 1820, after taking his doctor's degree, he returned to Berlin as a lecturer. In 1825 he converted to the

Evangelical Church in Prussia The Prussian Union of Churches (known under multiple other names) was a major Protestant church body which emerged in 1817 from a series of decrees by Frederick William III of Prussia that united both Lutheran and Reformed denominations in Pru ...

, and the following year was appointed extraordinary, and in 1828 ordinary, professor in the Berlin University faculty of

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

. Before converting, he was a member of the Society for the Culture and Science of the Jews, alongside

Joel Abraham List Joel Abraham List (1780–1848) was one of the seven founding members of the Society for the Culture and Science of the Jews ( Verein für Kultur und Wissenschaft der Juden); he served as its president from March 1820 to March 1821. He was also ...

Isaac Marcus Jost Isaak Marcus (Markus) Jost (February 22, 1793, Bernburg – November 22, 1860, Frankfurt am Main) was a Jewish historical writer. He studied at the universities of Göttingen and Berlin. In Berlin he began to teach, and in 1835 received the appoi ...

and

Leopold Zunz Leopold Zunz ( he, יום טוב צונץ—''Yom Tov Tzuntz'', yi, ליפמן צונץ—''Lipmann Zunz''; 10 August 1794 – 17 March 1886) was the founder of academic Judaic Studies (''Wissenschaft des Judentums''), the critical investigation ...

. At this period the historical school of

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 ...

was coming to the front, and Gans, his Hegelian tendencies predisposing him to treat law historically, applied the method to one special branch—the right of succession. His great work, ''Erbrecht in weltgeschichtlicher Entwicklung'' (1824, 1825, 1829 and 1835), is of enduring value, not only for its extensive survey of facts, but for the admirable manner in which the general theory of the slow evolution of legal principles is presented. In 1830, and again in 1835, Gans visited

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and formed an intimate acquaintance with the leaders of literary culture and criticism there. The liberality of his views, especially on political matters, drew upon Gans the displeasure of the

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 ...

n government, and his course of lectures on the history of the last fifty years (published as ''Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der letzten fünfzig Jahre'', Leipzig, 1833-1834) was prohibited. He died in Berlin. Other works are a treatise on the fundamental laws of property (''Über die Grundlage des Besitzes'', Berlin, 1829), a portion of a systematic work on the Roman civil law (''System des römischen Zivilrechts'', 1827), and a collection of his miscellaneous writings (''Vermischte Schriften''. 1832). Gans edited the ''Philosophie der Geschichte in Hegel's Werke'', and contributed a preface. He also wrote ''Das Erbrecht in Weltgeschichtlicher Entwickelung'' (4 vols., 1834) which was translated into French.

References

Eduard Gans
on ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

'' * Johann Braun: Judentum, Jurisprudenz und Philosophie. Bilder aus dem Leben des Juristen Eduard Gans (1797–1839). Nomos, Baden-Baden 1997, * * Converts to Protestantism from Judaism German Protestants 18th-century German Jews Jurists from Berlin 1797 births 1839 deaths Humboldt University of Berlin faculty Hegelian philosophers 19th-century German philosophers 19th-century German jurists {{germany-law-bio-stub