Joseph Gerstner (10 October 1830 - 20 March 1883) was an

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

professor and a scholar of

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

who became a politician ( DFP).

Life

Ludwig Joseph Gerstner was born into a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

family in Burg Abenberg, a small town in the hilly countryside south of

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

. Sources are silent on his father's profession. His family appears to have relocated to the other side of Nuremberg, since he attended the secondary school ("Gymnasium") at

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

till 1849. Between 1849 and 1853 he studied at

Erlangen Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

after which for several years he ran his own legal practice. He received a doctorate from

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

in May 1856 for a dissertation on the importance of teaching

basic economics ''Basic Economics'' is a non-fiction book by American economist Thomas Sowell published by Basic Books in 2000. The original subtitle was ''A Citizen's Guide to the Economy'', but from the third edition in 2007 on it was subtitled ''A Common Sens ...

at elementary and middle schools. A year later he received his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

(higher degree) back at

. In 1862, Gerstner was appointed a Professor of National Economics (''"Staatswirtschaft"'') at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. Founded in 1402, it is one of the ol ...

. In his "Basic primer on National Administration" (''"Grundlehren der Staatsverwaltung"''), a work triggered by the reconfiguration of the Bavarian civil service, he set out to propound a general "organic Christian" theory. He defined the state as a "unity and totality", and as an "organic entity willed by God, which is designed to see to it that in a given territory a majority of the people will be steered towards physical-material and intellectual-spiritual perfection, guided by the highest magisterial will according to fixed norms and methods and according to the laws of nature". Despite the similarity of such aspirations to the natural law doctrines popular during the eighteenth century, they found real resonance in Gerstner's own time, when predicated on the separation between society and the state propounded by

Robert von Mohl Robert von Mohl (17 August 1799 – 4 November 1875) was a German jurist. He was the father of diplomat Ottmar von Mohl and salonnière Anna von Helmholtz, and brother of Hugo von Mohl, Moritz Mohl and Julius von Mohl. From 1824 to 1845 he wa ...

, and based on a constructive interaction between constitution and administration. Gerstner's attempt to develop a curriculum covering public administration embracing "Doctrine of Administration in all material aspects" in turn drew influence from

Lorenz von Stein Lorenz von Stein (18 November 1815 – 23 September 1890) was a German economist, sociologist, and public administration scholar from Eckernförde. As an advisor to Meiji period Japan, his liberal political views influenced the wording of the ...

's book, "Administration Primer" (''"Verwaltungslehre"''). Following the upheavals that opened the way for

unification Unification or unification theory may refer to: Computer science * Unification (computer science), the act of identifying two terms with a suitable substitution * Unification (graph theory), the computation of the most general graph that subs ...

, Bavaria found itself merged. The new

German state The Federal Republic of Germany is a federation and consists of sixteen partly sovereign ''states''. Of the sixteen states, thirteen are so-called area-states ('Flächenländer'); in these, below the level of the state government, there is a ...

incorporated Bavaria (but expressly excluded

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

): it was dominated by

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. The first

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

for the national parliament (''"Reichstag"'') was held at the beginning of March 1871. Professor Joseph Gerstner was elected to it, representing the Unterfranken (''Lower Franconia'') electoral district, which covered

Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; Hessian: ''Aschebersch'', ) is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg, despite being its administrative seat, is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...

and

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

. He is listed as one of the 44 representatives of the Progressive Party (''"Deutsche Fortschrittspartei"'' / DFP). The new country's second general election took place in January 1874, but after serving out his first term Gerstner did not stand for election for a second term.Specht, Fritz / Schwabe, Paul: Die Reichstagswahlen von 1867 bis 1903. Eine Statistik der Reichstagswahlen nebst den Programmen der Parteien und einem Verzeichnis der gewählten Abgeordneten. 2nd Edition/Auflage Berlin: Verlag Carl Heymann, 1904, p. 213 Joseph Gerstner was able to combine his membership of the German national assembly (''Reichstag'') with membership of the

Bavarian Landtag The Landtag of Bavaria, officially known in English as the Bavarian State Parliament, is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Bavaria. The parliament meets in the Maximilianeum in Munich. Elections to the Landtag are held ever ...

, the lower house of Bavaria's ("regional") parliament. He is listed as a member of the Bavarian Landtag between 1869 and 1875. In the Bavarian legislature (where, naturally, he is also listed as a member of the DFP) he was a member of no fewer than six apparently important parliamentary committees, suggesting that in reality he probably devoted more time to his parliamentary responsibilities in the Munich assembly than those in the national parliament in Berlin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerstner, Ludwig Josef 1830 births 1883 deaths People from Roth (district) People from the Kingdom of Bavaria German Roman Catholics German Progress Party politicians Members of the 1st Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the Bavarian Chamber of Deputies 19th-century German jurists Academic staff of the University of Würzburg