Hans Zeisel (September 1, 1905 – March 7, 1992) was an Austrian-American sociologist and legal scholar who taught at the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...

from 1953 to 1974. He was best known for using quantitative social science techniques to study the law.

Early life and education

Zeisel was born in

Kadaň Kadaň (; german: Kaaden) is a town in Chomutov District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 18,000 inhabitants. It lies on the banks of the river Ohře. Kadaň is a tourist centre with highlights being the Francisca ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

in 1905, and soon afterward moved with his family to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, where he grew up. He received his doctorates in law and political science from the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hi ...

in 1927.

Early career

After receiving his doctorates, Zeisel worked with

Paul Lazarsfeld Paul Felix Lazarsfeld (February 13, 1901August 30, 1976) was an Austrian-American sociologist. The founder of Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research, he exerted influence over the techniques and the organization of social rese ...

and

Marie Jahoda Marie Jahoda (26 January 1907 – 28 April 2001) was an Austrian-British social psychology, social psychologist. Biography Jahoda was born in Vienna to a Jewish merchant's family, and like many other psychologists of her time, grew up in Austri ...

on the 1933 study ''Die Arbeitslosen von Marienthal'', which David Kaye has called "a celebrated study of the impact of the Depression and unemployment on a small Austrian town." Similarly,

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

professor

Friedrich Katz Friedrich Katz (13 June 1927 – 16 October 2010) was an Austrian-born anthropologist and historian who specialized in 19th and 20th century history of Latin America, particularly, in the Mexican Revolution. "He was arguably Mexico's most widel ...

said of ''Marienthal'' that "The book had a profound effect, not only in Austria, but everywhere". Also after graduating from the University of Vienna, he practiced law and engaged in pro-socialism activism until 1938, when he emigrated to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in response to the Anschluss Österreichs. In New York, he became influential in the fields of media market research, and his research in these areas led to the 1947 statistics book ''Say It with Figures''.

Later career

Zeisel joined the faculty of the University of Chicago Law School in 1953 to study the American jury system with Harry Kalven. The research Zeisel and Kalven conducted on the jury system produced two books: ''Delay in the Court'' (1959) and ''The American Jury''. After retiring from the University of Chicago, he continued conducting research, especially on

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

(of which he was a firm opponent) and

trademark infringement Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attached to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that such authorization was within the scope of the licence). Infringement may ...

. In 1977 he was elected as a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The number of new fellows per year is limited ...

.View/Search Fellows of the ASA
, accessed 2016-08-20. One of the last works he wrote discussed the limits of using statistical methods to study the legal system. This book was posthumously published in 1997 as ''Prove It with Figures''.

Death

Zeisel died at his home in 1992.

References

External links

Guide to the Hans Zeisel Papers 1925-1992
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeisel, Hans 1905 births 1992 deaths People from Kadaň People from the Kingdom of Bohemia German Bohemian people Austrian emigrants to the United States American people of German Bohemian descent 20th-century American lawyers American legal scholars American statisticians University of Vienna alumni University of Chicago Law School faculty Fellows of the American Statistical Association American sociologists 20th-century American mathematicians 20th-century social scientists Austrian sociologists Austrian statisticians