Karl Samuel Grünhut (August 3, 1844 – October 1, 1929) was Jewish Austrian jurist.

Life

Grünhut was born on August 3, 1844, in

Svätý Jur Svätý Jur (; ; ; ; formerly ''Jur pri Bratislave'') is a small historical town northeast of Bratislava, located in the Bratislava Region. The city is situated on the slopes of Little Carpathians mountains and surrounded by typical terraced vine ...

(Szentgyörgy/Yergen),

Pozsony County Pozsony county was an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now mostly part of Slovakia, while a small area belongs to Hungary. In 1969, the three villages that remained in H ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, the son of wine merchant Philipp Grünhut. Grünhut attended the Akademisches Gymnasium in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. He then went to the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

Law School, graduating from there with a Juris Doctor in 1868. In 1869, he became a private lecturer on commercial and civil law. He became a member of the judiciary examination committee in 1870, serving as its president from 1904 to 1919. In 1872, he became an associate professor at the University of Vienna. From 1874 to 1915, he was a full professor at the University's newly created chair for commercial and bill of exchange law. He served as dean of the faculty of law twice, which raised a sharp protest from anti-Semites. He edited the quarterly ''Zeitschrift für das Privat- und Oeffentliche Recht der Gegenwart'' from 1873 to 1916, and wrote several works over the years. Grünhut had the title " Kaiserlicher Hofrath." In 1897, he became a life-member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. In 1902, he was decorated Commander with Star of the

Order of Franz Joseph The Imperial Austrian Order of Franz Joseph () was founded by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria on 2 December 1849, on the first anniversary of his accession to the imperial throne. Classes The order was originally awarded in three classes: ''G ...

. In 1909, he received the Commander's Cross of the Order of Leopold. In 1870, Grünhut married Julia Meisels, who died in 1910. They had three daughters, of which one died in 1911, one died in 1942 in the

Theresienstadt Ghetto Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...

, and one was killed in 1942 in the

Łódź Ghetto The Łódź Ghetto or Litzmannstadt Ghetto (after the Nazi German name for Łódź) was a Nazi ghetto established by the German authorities for Polish Jews and Roma following the Invasion of Poland. It was the second-largest ghetto in all of ...

. His son-in-law was Rudolf Sieghart. While Grünhut died Jewish, his children were baptized. Grünhut died in Vienna on October 1, 1929.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grunhut, Karl Samuel 1844 births 1929 deaths People from Svätý Jur 19th-century Hungarian Jews Jews from Austria-Hungary 19th-century Austrian Jews 20th-century Austrian Jews University of Vienna alumni Academic staff of the University of Vienna Jurists from Austria-Hungary Austrian legal scholars Members of the House of Lords (Austria) Commanders of the Order of Franz Joseph