Urho Jonas Castrén (30 December 1886, in

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Central Finland. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Jyväskylä is approximately , while the Jyväskylä sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately ...

– 8 March 1965, in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

) was a judge, serving for 27 years as the President of the

Supreme Administrative Court of Finland The Supreme Administrative Court of Finland (, ) is the highest court in the Finnish administrative court system, parallel to the Supreme Court of Finland. Its jurisdiction covers the legality of the decisions of government officials, and its ...

. During the constitutional crisis of 1944, Castrén, representing the

National Coalition Party The National Coalition Party (NCP; , Kok; , Saml) is a liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in Finland, political party in Finland. It is the current governing political party of Finland. Founded in 1918, the ...

, became

Prime Minister of Finland The prime minister of Finland (; ) is the leader of the Finnish Government. The prime minister and his or her cabinet exercise executive authority in the state. The prime minister is formally ranked third in the protocol after the president ...

briefly.

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 classics studies 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 (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

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 t ...

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 modi ...

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

Cabinets

* Urho Castrén Cabinet

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castren, Urho 1886 births 1965 deaths Politicians 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