Karl Heinrich Schönstedt

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Karl Heinrich Schönstedt

Karl Heinrich Schönstedt (from 1911 von Schönstedt ) (born January 6, 1833 in Broich ; † January 31, 1924 in Berlin ) was a Prussian judge and from 1894 to 1905 Prussian Minister of Justice .

First years in the judiciary

Schönstedt was the son of a patrimonial judge . After finishing school and studying law, he entered the Prussian judicial service. In 1850 he became a member of the Alemannia Bonn fraternity during his studies . He was a court assessor in Hamm in 1859 and then a district judge in Broich in 1865 and in Duisburg in 1867 . For a while he was also a laborer in the Justice Department. In 1872 he went to Glogau as an appellate judge and moved to Frankfurt am Main in 1875 . There he became regional court director in 1879 (today = presiding judge at the regional court , chairman of a chamber) and moved to Neuwied in 1883 and to Kassel in 1884 . From 1892 he was President of the Higher Regional Court in Celle .

Term of office as Minister of Justice

Between 1894 and 1905 he was the Prussian Minister of Justice. He was the first Minister of Justice in Prussia who had not had a career in the ministerial bureaucracy, but came out of the judiciary. In addition to legal expertise, he apparently also had administrative skills.

He was not affiliated with any political party. However, with his conservative administration, he made himself increasingly unpopular with social democrats, left-liberals and supporters of the center. In the end, he was considered the most criticized Minister of Justice since Leopold zur Lippe-Biesterfeld-Weißenfeld . The criticism did not apply to parts of the personnel policy, as it also helped center supporters to high positions in the administration of justice. The tolerance in personnel policy ended with supporters of the SPD . However, he only continued developments that were already common practice.

The unspoken discrimination against Jewish applicants for positions in the judicial service was also criticized. In fact, in a parliamentary debate in 1901, Schönstedt had to admit that these handicaps existed. He justified this by saying that he had to take into account the distrust of large circles against the Jews.

The criticism was directed from the left against Schönstedt's support for the fight against social democrats and trade unions by legal means. In this context belong the prison bill , the Lex Heinze and the bill making it more difficult for rural workers to break contracts. In addition, there was fundamental left-wing criticism of class justice. But criticism of the Prussian justice system was also voiced by the economy. So the judges' unworldliness was lamented. The declining quality of the judiciary was also criticized from the more nationally liberal crises.

From 1895 Schönstedt was also a member of the Prussian mansion and crown syndicate .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Sub-Volume 5: R – S. Winter, Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 3-8253-1256-9 , p. 311.
  2. ↑ Thomas Rink: Double Loyalty. Fritz Rathenau as a German civil servant and Jew, Hildesheim, 2002 p. 43
personal data
SURNAME Schönstedt, Karl Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schönstedt, Karl Heinrich von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian Minister of Justice
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1833
PLACE OF BIRTH Broich
DATE OF DEATH January 31, 1924
Place of death Berlin