Paul Speiser (lawyer)

Paul Speiser

Paul Speiser (1903)

Paul Speiser (born October 16, 1846 in Basel ; † October 9, 1935 there ) was a Swiss lawyer and politician . He was a member of the Basel Grand Council and represented the canton of Basel-Stadt in the National Council .

biography

Paul Speiser. Medallion with Speiser's portrait on the facade of the town hall of Basel.

Paul Speiser was the son of the Basel banker Johann Jakob Speiser . From 1864 he studied law in Basel, Göttingen, Berlin and Bonn and graduated in 1868 with a doctorate. In 1870 he became a notary and, after stays in Le Havre and London, opened his own law firm in 1872.

At the University of Basel, he became a private lecturer in 1873, an associate professor from 1876–1891, and a full professor for commercial and tax law from 1891–1895. 1898–1918 he was a lecturer at the University of Basel . There he represented in particular the subjects of commercial and bill of exchange law, and later of tax law. Speiser saw himself less as a scholar but as a "scientifically educated practitioner". 1875–1878 Speiser was president of the civil court, 1904–1907 appellate judge.

Speiser was politically active in Basel and on a national level: 1873–1878 he was a liberal Basel Grand Councilor, 1878–1884, 1886–1902 and 1907–1914 (from 1878 education, 1884 justice, from 1886 finance). He was a member of the National Council from 1889–1896, 1902–1911 and 1915–1919 and President of the National Council from 1907–1908. He was a member of the liberal democratic parliamentary group, candidate for the Federal Council in 1897, member of the Commission for the Civil Code, for the Federal Administrative Reform in 1895 and the War Tax Act of 1915. In 1897 he ran unsuccessfully as a Federal Councilor .

Speiser was also Federal Councilor's finance and legal advisor, for example for the Gotthard Treaty in 1913, and delegate to the congresses for international maritime and bill of exchange law in Antwerp in 1885 and Brussels in 1888. In Basel, he succeeded in restructuring the state budget through successful tax legislation. He played a key role in the School Act of 1880. During the Kulturkampf , Speiser, although a Protestant conservative, campaigned for the continued existence of the Catholic school in Basel, the abolition of which was called for by the party of the "radicals".

Like his father Johann Jakob Speiser, he advocated the nationalization of the railway. As president of the sub-commission for the buyback of the railways, he was able to implement this goal. When drafting a new university law for Basel, he defended the university's rights of self-administration, referring to the "Gleichschaltung" that was in operation in Germany at the time.

He was the author of numerous articles in the "Zeitschrift für Schweizerisches Recht". Paul Speiser received the title Dr. phil. hc from the University of Basel.

Private life

Grave in the Hörnli cemetery , Riehen, Basel-Stadt

Speiser married Salome Sophie Sarasin in 1873 and, after her untimely death, Elisabeth Sarasin in 1884, both daughters of Karl Sarasin from Basel. His children include the ethnologist Felix Speiser , the mathematician Andreas Speiser and the politician Ernst Speiser .

Fonts (selection)

Memories from my public activities from 1875-1919. Frobenius, Basel 1935.

literature

Alfred Sarasin-Iselin : Paul Speiser-Sarasin (1846-1945). In: Basler Jahrbuch 1937 , pp. 10–28.
Fritz Grieder: "Not everyone can win first prize, but the racetrack is open to everyone." The Basel School Act of 1880 , in: Basler Stadtbuch 1980 , SS 128–132.
Literature by and about Paul Speiser in the catalog of the German National Library

Web links

Patricia Zihlmann-Märki: Paul Speiser. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Pedigree of Paul Speiser In: stroux.org

Individual evidence

^ Edgar Bonjour : The University of Basel from its beginnings to the present, 1460-1960. Verlag Helbing and Lichtenhain, Basel 1960, pp. 558-559
^ Georg circle : Ernst Brenner . In: Urs Altermatt (Ed.): Das Bundesratslexikon . NZZ Libro , Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-03810-218-2 , p. 223-224 .
^ René Teuteberg : Basler Geschichte 2nd edition, Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel 1988, ISBN 3-856-16-034-5 , p. 338.
^ Rene Teuteberg: Basler Geschichte 2nd edition, Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel 1986, ISBN 3-856-16-034-5 , p. 351.
^ Edgar Bonjour: The University of Basel from its beginnings to the present 1460 - 1960. Verlag Helbing and Lichtenhain, Basel 1960, p. 786

personal data
SURNAME	Speiser, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swiss politician
DATE OF BIRTH	October 16, 1846
PLACE OF BIRTH	Basel
DATE OF DEATH	October 9, 1935
Place of death	Basel

[1] Edgar Bonjour : The University of Basel from its beginnings to the present, 1460-1960. Verlag Helbing and Lichtenhain, Basel 1960, pp. 558-559

[2] Georg circle : Ernst Brenner . In: Urs Altermatt (Ed.): Das Bundesratslexikon . NZZ Libro , Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-03810-218-2 , p. 223-224 .

[3] René Teuteberg : Basler Geschichte 2nd edition, Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel 1988, ISBN 3-856-16-034-5 , p. 338.

[4] Rene Teuteberg: Basler Geschichte 2nd edition, Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel 1986, ISBN 3-856-16-034-5 , p. 351.

[5] Edgar Bonjour: The University of Basel from its beginnings to the present 1460 - 1960. Verlag Helbing and Lichtenhain, Basel 1960, p. 786