Urho Jonas Castrén (30 December 1886, in

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...

– 8 March 1965, in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

) was a judge, serving for 27 years as the President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland. During the constitutional crisis of 1944, Castrén, representing the

National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti HäkkänenElina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finn ...

, became

Prime Minister of Finland The prime minister of Finland ( fi, Suomen pääministeri; ) is the leader of the Finnish Government. The prime minister and their cabinet exercise executive authority in the state. The prime minister is formally Finnish order of precedence, r ...

for a brief period.

Biography

Urho Jonas Castrén was born 30 December 1886, in

to Johannes Castrén and Amanda Ulrika Jussilainen. He attended the Lyceum of Jyväskylä, completing his studies of the classics in 1904 and earning a legal degree in 1907. He took his Master of Laws in 1910 and obtained a degree in rights in 1912. Between 1918 and 1927 he taught at the Agriculture and Forestry division and Political Science Department of the Faculty of Law at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

as a specialty teacher. He joined the law firm of Jonas Castrén and worked as an assistant from 1913 to 1914. In 1914, he became a legal counselor and a member of the Helsinki City Court, where he remained until 1917 when he transferred to the Residential Tax Assessor's office. He served on the assessor's Board of Directors between 1917 and 1922. Castrén entered the judiciary in 1922 first serving as Saarijärven judicial district judge until 1926, then as Deputy Chancellor of Justice between 1926 and 1928;

Chancellor of Justice The Chancellor of Justice is a government official found in some northern European countries, broadly responsible for supervising the lawfulness of government actions. History In 1713, the Swedish King Charles XII, preoccupied with fighting the ...

from 1928 to 1929; and finally as President of the Supreme Administrative Court from 1929 to 1956. He was also

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

from December 1925 to December 1926. Castrén formed a coalition government after Antti Hackzell became incapacitated. The main task of his government was enforcing the

Moscow Armistice The Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other side on 19 September 1944, ending the Continuation War. The Armistice restored the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940, with a number of mo ...

. Castrén was the father of theologian Inga-Brita Castrén.

Cabinets

* Urho Castrén Cabinet

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castren, Urho 1886 births 1965 deaths People from Jyväskylä People from Vaasa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) National Coalition Party politicians Prime Ministers of Finland Ministers of Justice of Finland Chancellors of Justice of Finland World War II political leaders