Otto Lenel
| Otto Lenel | |
|---|---|
| Born |
13 December 1849 Mannheim, Baden, Germany |
| Died | 7 February 1935 (aged 85) Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden, Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Occupation | Jurist |
| Spouse(s) | Luise Eberstadt |
| Children | Bertha Lenel (b. 1882) Paul Moritz Lenel (b. 1884) Rudolf Otto Lenel (b. 1886) |
Otto Lenel (13 December 1849 – 7 February 1935) was a German Jewish jurist and legal historian. His most important achievements are in the field of Roman law.
Otto Lenel was born in Mannheim, Germany on 13 December 1849. He was the son of Moritz Lenel and Caroline Scheuer. He fought in the war against France in 1870/71.
Lenel studied law at the universities of Heidelberg, Leipzig and Berlin. In 1872, he received the degree of Dr. jur., four years later, he obtained the habilitation at the University of Leipzig. In 1882, Lenel became famous, when he won a prize which had been offered by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences with his reconstruction of the edict of the praetors (see below).
In the same year of 1882, Lenel became a professor at the University of Kiel. Two years later, he moved on to the University of Marburg. In 1885 he became a professor taught at the University of Strassburg, which had become a German institution after the war of 1870/71 in which Lenel himself had fought. In 1895, he was rector of the University of Strassburg. 1907 he was called to Freiburg University.
He soon became one of the most important German legal historians of his time. At the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the award of his Dr. jur. degree, he was presented with a Festschrift. Ten years later, Lenel was given a second Festschrift. On his 80th birthday, Lenel received a gratulatory letter, which was signed by academics representing 20 countries of various continents and 100 universities. He was also made an honorary citizen of the city of Freiburg.
After 1933, however, Lenel—in spite of his international fame, his status as a veteran and his old age—became a victim of Nazi racism. His daughter was forced out of her job as a nurse. The prosecutions by the Nazis broke his spirit. For the last 18 months of his life he was unable to continue his scholarly work. He died on 7 February 1935.
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