Hans Weber (lawyer)

Hans Weber (actually Johann Conrad Weber ; born November 26, 1839 in Lenzburg ; † May 30, 1918 in Bern ; resident in Oberflachs and Hunzenschwil ) was a Swiss politician , judge and journalist . From 1872 to 1875 he represented the canton of Aargau in the National Council . He was editor-in-chief of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung for four years and federal judge for more than three decades .

biography

Weber was the son of a seminar teacher and grew up in Lenzburg. The mother came from Esslingen am Neckar in the Kingdom of Württemberg . After attending the district school in Zofingen , he graduated from the canton school in Aarau . He then studied law at the universities of Heidelberg , Munich and Zurich . In 1863 he was admitted to the bar, after which he opened a law firm in Lenzburg. In addition to his work as a lawyer, he worked as a journalist. As editor of the Aargauisches Wochenblatt , he seems to have acquired a very good reputation, because the renowned Neue Zürcher Zeitung offered him the post of editor-in-chief in March 1872 . He held this position until the end of January 1876.

Weber's political career began in 1864 when he was elected to the Aargau Grand Council , in which he belonged to the free-thinking parliamentary group. A particular concern for him was the separation of church and state . He became better known when the Federal Council appointed him extraordinary federal prosecutor. He was supposed to investigate the violent incidents of the Tonhalle riot in Zurich on March 9, 1871, which had made federal intervention necessary. In the parliamentary elections in October 1872 Weber was elected to the National Council by the voters of the Aargau-Mitte constituency and resigned as a Grand Councilor. He was one of the co-signers of a motion by Jakob Stämpfli , which called for the revision of the Swiss federal constitution . In the subsequent negotiations he influenced the school article of the federal constitution with his motions.

After his resignation as member of the National Council, the Federal Assembly elected Weber as federal judge in December 1875, to succeed Fridolin Anderwert . In 1881 and 1882 he was President of the Federal Supreme Court. The University of Zurich awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1894 for his services to Swiss legislation and legal history. In October 1908 he was appointed director of the Central Office for International Rail Transport by the Federal Council. He held this position until December 1917.

literature

• Biographical Lexicon of the Canton of Aargau 1803–1957 . In: Historical Society of the Canton of Aargau (Ed.): Argovia . tape 68/69 . Verlag Sauerländer, Aarau 1958, p. 827-829 .

Web links

• Vanessa Duss: Weber, Hans. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .