Moritz Wilhelm August Breidenbach (13 November 1796 – 2 April 1857) was a German

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

Life

Breidenbach was born at Offenbach as a son of Wolf Breidenbach. After his secondary education at a gymnasium at

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, he studied law at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

, from which he was graduated in 1817 as a

Doctor of Law A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

.Isidore Singer, Joseph Sohn,
Moritz Wilhelm August Breidenbach
''

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on the ...

'', 1906. After a supplementary course at

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

, where he was listed as a Jewish law student he began the practise of

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at Darmstadt in 1820. He converted to

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

at a time when many thousands of German Jews converted because they wanted to enter civil service.Richard Gottheil, Kaufmann Kohler, Isaac Broydé,
Modern converts to Christianity
, ''Jewish Encyclopedia'', 1906. In 1831 he became counselor of the treasury in the Ministry of the Interior of

Hesse-Darmstadt The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt () was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse among the four sons of Landgrave Philip I. ...

, and in 1836 counselor of the cabinet, in which capacity he officiated as commissioner of the Hessian government in the

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

. He became a member of the council of state in 1848, but was compelled to resign this office upon the outbreak of the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

. He was recalled, however, in 1849 as chief counselor for education, which position he held until his death. Breidenbach died in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

Legacy

According to the 1906

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breidenbach, Moritz Wilhelm August 1796 births 1857 deaths People from Offenbach am Main 19th-century German people Jurists from Hesse German Lutherans Converts to Lutheranism from Judaism 19th-century German Jews 19th-century Lutherans