Franz von Stengel

The title of this article is ambiguous. For the German administrative officer, see Franz von Stengel (Oberamtmann) .

The Baden Interior Minister Franz von Stengel

Franz Freiherr von Stengel (born October 5, 1803 in Bruchsal , † September 22, 1870 in Karlsruhe ) was a lawyer and politician from Baden .

Origin and career

Stengel came from a civil servant family from the Electoral Palatinate , which originally came from the Principality of Hohenzollern-Hechingen . The Lords of Stengel rose to the post office in the 18th century . Stengel's grandfather Johann Georg von Stengel received the hereditary title of baron in 1788. Stengel's father Ernst Joseph Freiherr von Stengel was the younger brother Stephan von Stengels, born in 1769, and until 1836 Chancellor of the Grand Ducal Baden Higher Court in Mannheim. Stengel belonged to the Roman Catholic Church and was married.

After studying law and passing the state examination, Stengel entered the Baden state service in 1826. As a legal intern he received several years of practical training at various district offices and in 1832 came to Karlsruhe as a secretary to the Ministry of the Interior. There he was able to make a quick career thanks to his efficiency, which also attracted the attention of Minister Ludwig Georg von Winter . In 1835 he was appointed assessor, in 1837 a councilor and in 1846 a secret trainee. In the revolutionary year of 1848, he became a State Councilor at the head of the Justice Ministry in the newly formed Hoffmann March Cabinet , which existed until June 1849. From 1848 to 1856 Stengel was a member of the First Chamber of the Baden Estates Assembly and represented Heidelberg University from 1848 to 1849 . From 1850 to 1856 he was a member of the Chamber appointed by the Grand Duke.

Minister of State of Baden

In 1856, Grand Duke Friedrich I appointed him head of the two ministries of the interior and justice, with the character of a secret councilor, 1st class. Although there was no official Baden Prime Minister in those years, Stengel, together with Foreign Minister Wilhelm Rivalier von Meysenbug , can be seen as the leading head of the Stengel-Meysenbug cabinet . In the four years of his tenure at the head of the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, Stengel pioneered a whole series of laws and sovereign ordinances. These included, for example, changes in the penal code, in the jurisdiction of the mayors in civil legal issues, in the separation of the administration of justice from the administration in under instance, in the constitution and administration of the municipalities, in the school and university system and in the property of the newly won land in In the course of straightening the Rhine along the French border. Particularly noteworthy is the contract initialed on June 28, 1859 between the Grand Duchy of Baden and the Roman Catholic Church, which gave the Archdiocese of Freiburg considerable freedom in filling positions, training theologians and managing assets. Resistance arose from the liberals against this strengthening of the church's autonomy. After a liberal majority in the state parliament after the renewal elections in September 1859, the Second Chamber decided in March 1860 with 46 votes against 15 to reject this church convention. After this defeat in the vote, the Grand Duke formed the liberal Stabel cabinet at the beginning of April 1860 and released Stengel and Meysenbug into retirement.

further activities

In 1861, Stengel took over the presidency of the Grand Ducal Baden Chamber of Accounts and the management of the administrative board of the general pension fund.

literature

• Baden biographies . Volume 2, Heidelberg 1875, pp. 311-315