Christopher Hansteen (jurist)

Christopher Hansteen (26 September 1822 – 10 March 1912) was a Norwegian judge. He served as an Associate Justice in the Supreme Court of Norway from 1867 to 1905, an unusually long period, and also spent a few years in politics.

He was born in Moss as the son of customs surveyor Nils Lynge Hansteen (1782–1861) and his wife Petronelle Severine Clementin (1787–1829). He was a distant relative of Christopher Hansteen, the astronomer and more famous bearer of the name. In November 1853 he married Lagertha Cecilia Wulfsberg (1820–1897), a daughter of politician Gregers Winther Wulfsberg.

Hansteen grew up in Moss, Christiania and Drammen. He enrolled as a student in 1838, and graduated with the cand.jur. degree in 1843. He started a career as a civil servant, working as a clerk in the Ministry of Finance and Customs, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice and the Police. In 1854 he was promoted to subdirector, and from 1857 to 1866 he was a judge and acting stipendiary magistrate in Christiania.

Hansteen was also active in politics. He was a member of Christiania city council from 1867 to 1876, and following the 1868 election he was a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament, but without actually meeting in parliament. Political parties did not exist at the time, but Hansteen was known as a political conservative. He frequently used newspapers as an arena for promoting his views.

In 1867 he had been appointed as an Assessor in the Supreme Court of Norway. As such he took part in the Impeachment trial, where members of the Supreme Court as well as politicians from the Lagting ultimately impeached Conservative Prime Minister Christian Selmer and his cabinet. Hansteen largely let his professionalism subdue his political leanings in this case, which could not be taken for granted in the political climate of the time.

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