Stahl, Friedrich Julius

Friedrich Julius Stahl was born on January 16, 1802 in the city of Würzburg to a Jewish family; still in his youth he moved from Judaism to Lutheranism ^[4] . He studied law at the universities of Würzburg , Heidelberg and Erlangen, after which he received a doctorate in law ^{[5] [6]} .

F. Yu. Stahl in 1840

After graduation, Stahl was a professor in Erlangen , then in his hometown, and from 1840 he taught at the University of Berlin ^{[7] [4] [8]} .

Stahl was a staunch monarchist and his first great work: “ Ueber das ältere römische Klagenrecht ”, published in Munich in 1827, immediately drew attention to him as a profound connoisseur of law , a subtle dialectic and an excellent stylist. The book Philosophie des Rechts (Heidelberg, 1830–37; 5th ed., Tübingen, 1878) brought him even greater fame. The content of the book is narrower than its title; it is almost exclusively a history and dogma of the doctrine of the state, and not law in general. This book was important as the largest attempt to create a scientific and philosophical foundation of feudal-conservative aspirations of the era that followed the Congress of Vienna . Stahl originally combined in it pietistic conservatism with Jewish theocraticism. He departs from the “ personality of God, as the principle of the world, ” and derives from it the entire sphere of religion and morality, as well as law and politics; God's peace in the human race is realized through human institutions, the source and foundation of which lies in the will of the Supreme Being; the order in these institutions is right. It follows that for the preservation and development of law, an authority is needed that would stand above people and act as an intermediary between them and the Divine. Such authority belongs to the monarch, who controls the grace of God. " Not only is the state generally a divine command, but the polity and certain persons who make up the government have divine sanction ." From the divine powers of monarchical power, Stahl does not, however, deduce her perfect unboundedness; the law represents the line beyond which the monarch should not cross, but within the limits of the law his power must be free; where it is not the law that prescribes, but people decide, the monarch should rule there . ” In the form of a " body of representation and assistance " it should consist of representatives of the estates into which the state is divided; but this representation should not hamper the authority received by divine authority. The state must be moral and religious; therefore, the church must be in strict and exact accordance with the state. All this building of the being and that which is supposed to be derived by Stahl in a deductive way from the analysis of "the personality of God, as a principle of peace ", and in some places is confirmed by references to the Holy Scripture ; but in essence it is entirely derived from the surrounding reality. Stahl only put political ideals and aspirations of the then ruling spheres into logical conclusions; it was this side of his book, in connection with the brilliant presentation, the depth of legal and philosophical knowledge and the subtlety of argumentation, contributed to the great success of the book ^{[4] [9]} .

“ Autorität, nicht Majorität ” - this principle, as formulated by Stahl, was supremely sympathetic to both the Prussian king Frederick William IV and the court aristocracy. Therefore, the " Philosophie des Rechts " paved Stalu the way to the University of Berlin , and to the aristocratic spheres, who willingly forgave him for his Jewish origin, and to the first chamber (chamber of gentlemen) of the Prussian Landtag, which he was appointed for life in 1849, and to the Supreme Church Council Evangelical Church, of which he was a member since 1852. In 1858, when the prince of Prussian regency was instituted and the reaction ministry of Otto Theodore Manteuffel fell, Stahl was forced to resign from his last post ^{[4] [10] [11]} .

In the house of gentlemen, Stahl until his death was the head of the feudal-conservative party; he gave speeches on a wide variety of issues; thus, he defended the abolition of the constitution of 1848, fought against the separation of church and state, against the school's laicization, against the permission to divorce , defended the bicameral system and the chamber of gentlemen ^{[4] [12]} .

After "The Philosophy of Law" the following works of Friedrich Julius Stahl appeared: " Die Kirchenverfassung nach Lehre und Recht der Protestanten " (Erlangen, 1840; 2nd ed., 1862); Das monarchische Prinzip (Heidelberg, 1845; this brochure is included in its essential features in the 3rd and subsequent editions of The Philosophy of Law); " Der christliche Staat " (Berlin, 1847; 2 ed., 1858); “ Die Revolution und die Konstitutionelle Monarchie ” (Berlin, 1848; 2 ed., 1849); " Was ist Revolution " (Berlin, 1852; 3 ed., 1853); Der Protestantism als politisches Prinzip (Berlin, 1853; 3 ed., 1854) ^{[13] [4]} .

Friedrich Julius Stahl died on August 10, 1861 in the town of Bad Brückenau ^[14] .

After the death of Stahl, a collection of his speeches was published: " Siebzehn parlamentarische Reden und drei Vorträge " (Berlin, 1862), and also " Die gegenwärtigen Parteien in Staat und Kirche " (1862; 2 nd., 1868). The last work is, as it were, the end of Stal's work on the philosophy of law. All existing parties are reduced here to two groups, in accordance with their attitude to the principles of revolution and legitimacy; Liberalism is recognized as the source of revolution, as well as socialism ^{[4] [15]} .

• Ernst Landsberg . Stahl, Friedrich Julius // Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (German) .
• Stahl, Friedrich Julius // Encyclopædia Britannica (English) .
• Pernice, Savigny, Stahl (Berlin, 1862).

• Stahl, Julius Friedrich // The Brockhaus and Efron Jewish Encyclopedia . - SPb. 1908-1913.
• Stahl, Friedrich Julius in the German National Library .
• Stahl, Friedrich Julius in the Digital Library of Germany .