Hans Christian Petersen
|
Hans C. Petersen MP |
|
|---|---|
| First Minister of Norway-Sweden | |
|
In office 1858–1861 |
|
| Monarch |
Oscar I Charles IV & XV |
| Preceded by | (Prime Minister of Norway-Sweden) |
| Succeeded by | Frederik Stang |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Hans Christian Petersen 11 August 1793 Christianssand |
| Died | 26 September 1862 (aged 69) Christiania |
| Nationality | Norwegian |
| Spouse(s) | Kristine Marie Thrane |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Profession | lawyer |
Hans Christian Petersen (11 August 1793 – 26 September 1862) was a Norwegian politician and served as the de facto Prime minister of Norway during the personal union of Sweden-Norway from 1858 to 1861.
Hans Christian Petersen grew up in the southernmost city of Christianssand and graduated from the local cathedral school in 1810. He studied law at the University of Copenhagen and got his law degree there on 14 January 1814—the day the Peace Treaty of Kiel was signed, thus ending four hundred years of Danish-Norwegian union. Petersen now wanted to return home to participate in the fight for independence, but the sea route was blocked and on Swedish territory he would be demanded to swear allegiance to the Swedish King. Together with several others – one of them his later wife – he crossed by rowing boat to Sweden, before continuing over land to Christiania disguised as a coachman.
In April 1814 Petersen became acting stipendiary magistrate in Kragerø. He was later in charge of the secretariat of the Naval Conscription Commissariat before becoming clerk of record at Norway’s new Supreme Court in June 1815. In 1817 Petersen received his licence as a barrister, and was able to run a lucrative legal practice for the next twenty years. From 1821 he was defence counsel at the Court of Impeachment, defending i.a. Councillors of State Thomas Fasting (1821) and Jonas Collett (1827) and Prime Minister Severin Løvenskiold (1836).
Petersen was an eloquent lawyer, something that also had to do with his experience as an actor in the Norwegian Dramatic Society until 1827. He spoke Latin fluently. In his 1844 textbook author Henrik Wergeland used excerpts of Petersen’s defence speeches in the Court of Impeachment as examples of an eloquence “bordering on poetry”.
From 1828 Petersen was lawyer for the Bank of Norway department in Christiania, and from 1830 to 1834 acting Attorney General – an office he left due to disagreement on the salary. He then conducted individual court cases for ministries until 1837. After having defended Prime Minister Løvenskiold during impeachment prosecutions in 1836, he was offered to join the Government, but rejected. In stead he accepted the appointment as diocesan county governor in Christiania.
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