Rudolf von Jhering | |
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Born |
Caspar Rudolph Ritter von Jhering 22 August 1818 Aurich, Kingdom of Hanover |
Died | 17 September 1892 Göttingen, Province of Hanover |
(aged 74)
Spouse(s) | Ida Christina Frölich |
Era | 19th-century philosophy |
Region | Western philosophy |
Main interests
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Philosophy of law |
Influences
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Influenced
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Caspar Rudolph Ritter von Jhering (also Ihering) (22 August 1818 – 17 September 1892) was a German jurist. He is best known for his 1872 book Der Kampf ums Recht (The Struggle for Law), as a legal scholar, and as the founder of a modern sociological and historical school of law.
Jhering was born in Aurich, Kingdom of Hanover. He entered the University of Heidelberg in 1836 and, after the fashion of German students, visited successively Göttingen, Munich, and Berlin. Of all his teachers, only Georg Friedrich Puchta appears to have influenced him.
After graduating as a doctor juris, Jhering established himself in 1844 in Berlin as privatdocent for Roman law, and delivered public lectures on the Geist des römischen Rechts, the theme that may be said to have constituted his life's work. In 1845, he became an ordinary professor at Basel, in 1846 at , in 1849 at Kiel, and in 1851 at Giessen. He left his mark at each of those seats of learning; beyond any other of his contemporaries he animated the dry bones of Roman law.
In that period the German juristic world was still under the dominating influence of Savigny. The older school looked askance at the young professor, who attempted to build up a system of natural jurisprudence. This is the keynote of his famous work, Geist des römischen Rechts auf den verschiedenen Stufen seiner Entwicklung (1852–1865). Its originality and lucidity placed its author in the forefront of modern Roman jurists.