Bernhard Dunker (22 May 1809 – 28 July 1870) was a Norwegian jurist, barrister and Attorney General of Norway.
Personal life
Dunker was born in the
Duchy of Schleswig
The Duchy of Schleswig (; ; ; ; ; ) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km (45 mi) south of the current border between Germany and Denmark. The territory has been div ...
in
Southern Jutland
Southern Jutland (; ) is the region south of the Kongeå in Jutland, Denmark and north of the Eider (river) in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The region north of the Kongeå is called . Both territories had their own ting assemblies in the Mi ...
to
Conradine Birgitte Hansteen and Johan Friedrich Wilhelm Dunker, and came to Norway when he was one year old. He was a brother of
Vilhelmine Ullmann, and nephew of astronomer
Christopher Hansteen. He married Edle Jasine Theodore Grundt in 1839, and among their children was writer and feminist
Mathilde Schjøtt. He was uncle of politician and feminist
Ragna Nielsen and educator and politician
Viggo Ullmann, grandfather of architect
Jens Gram Dunker, and father-in-law of philologist and politician
Peter Olrog Schjøtt.
[
]
Career
Dunker was barrister with access to work with the Supreme Court
In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
from 1841. Among his more than 800 court cases, the trial against Marcus Thrane and his supporters is probably best known, when Bunker defended their demands for right to vote and political rights. He served as Attorney General of Norway from 1859 to 1870. His written works include ''Om den norske Constitution'' (1845), ''Om Revision af Foreningsakten mellem Sverige og Norge'' and ''Reise til Tellemarken og til Arendal sommeren 1852''.[
He was decorated Knight of the ]Order of St. Olav
The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav (; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II, known to posterity as St. Olav.
Just be ...
in 1860, and was Knight of the Order of the Polar Star
The Royal Order of the Polar Star (Swedish language, Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden''), sometimes translated as the Royal Order of the North Star, is a Swedish order of chivalry created by Frederick I of Sweden, King Frederick I on 23 F ...
.
In literature
The barrister "Berent" in Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...
's play ''En Fallit'' is modelled after Dunker,[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunker, Bernhard
1809 births
1870 deaths
People from the Duchy of Schleswig
Norwegian jurists
Knights of the Order of the Polar Star