Friedrich Ludwig Keller

Friedrich Ludwig Keller

Friedrich Ludwig von Keller (vom Steinbock) (born October 17, 1799 in Zurich , † September 11, 1860 in Berlin ) was a Swiss lawyer , university professor and politician.

Life

family

Keller came from one of the oldest patrician families in Zurich, the Stauffische Keller vom Steinbock, also called zum Schlüssel or Keller von Schwamendingen (raised to knighthood in the 9th century, second nobility patent "from Steinbock" in 1487). His ancestor, Johannes Keller zum Schlüssel, was one of the founders of the Republic of Zurich and its first consul (mayor). His nephew was the painter and co-founder of the Munich School, Albert von Keller . Grandfather was Felix Keller vom Steinbock, called "the rich cellar of Goldbach".

Studies and university career

Friedrich Ludwig Keller was born in Zurich as the son of the landowner Johann Balthasar Keller and his wife Elisabetha. He studied law at the universities of Berlin , with the renowned legal scholar Friedrich Carl von Savigny , and Göttingen . Already with his dissertation published in 1822 ( Commentatio ad l. 32. § 1. ff de peculio ) on a topic from Roman law , he attracted attention. Keller taught civil law at the Political Institute in Zurich from 1824 and became a full professor in 1826. After founding the University of Zurich (1833), he was appointed associate professor for Zurich particular law and Roman law, and in 1838 he was appointed full professor. Its scientific reputation was based on the work On Litis Contestation and Judgment According to Classical Roman Law (1827). Keller became a pioneer of the modern administration of justice in the canton of Zurich and published the monthly chronicle of the administration of justice in Zurich from 1833 to 1838 .

Lawyer and politician in Zurich

From 1829 Keller was a member of the Grand Council of Zurich and became the leader of the radical-liberal opposition, which of course was not involved on the Ustertag . From 1831 to 1837 he also worked as a chief judge, from 1831 also as president of the higher court . After the liberal takeover of power in 1831, Keller became a member of the government and became the architect of the modern legal system of the Canton of Zurich. In 1837 he completely reorganized the judiciary and re-codified Zurich civil law. At the federal level, Friedrich Ludwig Keller von Steinbock was twice sent to the Diet as a member of the Diet for Zurich , and was commissioned by them in 1836 to investigate the so-called Conseilhandel as well as chairman of the arbitral tribunal for financial issues relating to the separation of the Canton of Basel. Due to the conservative upheaval in Zurich in 1839, the Züriputsch , Keller had to flee to Baden . His harshness in political confrontation and his free private life created numerous opponents for him. In 1842 he was no longer elected to the Grand Council in order to be able to devote more time to his university career.

University teacher and politician in Prussia

In 1844 he received a professorship for Roman law in Halle an der Saale , and in 1846 he was appointed to the University of Berlin. In Berlin, Keller made a political turnaround: in 1850 he became a member of the Volkshaus of the Erfurt Union Parliament and was elected as a conservative member of the Prussian House of Representatives and in 1853 was accepted into the Prussian nobility. From 1854 to 1860 he was a member of the Prussian State Council . As a secret councilor and member of the Prussian House of Representatives, he ended his political career. He was also a landowner in the Silesian town of Kniegnitz , who was heavily in debt with his estate.

Keller died in a train compartment at the age of 60 when he returned to Berlin from an unpleasant visit to Switzerland. His estate is kept in the archive of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences.

Works (selection)

Lectures on the Pandects, Leipzig 1867 (title page)

• The new theories in the Zürcher. Administration of Justice , 1828
• Semestrium ad M. Tullium Ciceronem libri sex , 3 vols. (Unfinished), 1842–1850
• The Roman Civil Trial and Actions Summarized for Lecturer Use , 1852
• Institutions , 1861
• Lectures on the Pandects , 1861 (ed. V. Friedberg, 2 vols., 2nd ed. 1867)

literature

• Friedrich Ludwig Keller and the Higher Court of the Canton of Zurich ; ed. On the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the Upper Court of the Canton of Zurich 2006 v. Thomas Weibel. Higher Court of the Canton of Zurich, Zurich 2006.
• Johann Caspar Bluntschli:  Cellar from the ibex, Friedrich Ludwig . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, pp. 570-579.
• Jochen Lengemann : The German Parliament (Erfurt Union Parliament) from 1850. A manual: Members, officials, life data, parliamentary groups (= publications of the Historical Commission for Thuringia. Large series, Vol. 6). Urban & Fischer, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-437-31128-X , pp. 180-181.
• Gabor Hamza: Notes on Roman Law Influences in the History of Swiss Private Law Studies and Private Law Codification, Orbis Iuris Romani 8 (2003) pp. 9–20.
• Gabor Hamza: Origin and Development of Modern Private Law Orders and the Roman Law Tradition, Budapest 2009, pp. 240–243.

Web links

• Literature by and about Friedrich Ludwig Keller in the catalog of the German National Library
• Bruno Schmid: Keller, Friedrich Ludwig. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Overview of the courses held by Friedrich Ludwig Keller at the University of Zurich (summer semester 1833 to winter semester 1843)