Editing Eduard Gans

{{Short description|German jurist (1797–1839)}}
[[File:Eduard Gans.jpg|thumb|Eduard Gans]]
'''Eduard Gans''' (March 22, 1797 – May 5, 1839) was a German jurist.

==Biography==
Gans was born in [[Berlin]] to prosperous [[Jew]]ish parents.  He studied law first at the [[Humboldt University of Berlin|Friedrich Wilhelm University]], [[Berlin]], then at [[university of Göttingen|Göttingen]], and finally at [[university of Heidelberg|Heidelberg]], where he attended [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|G. W. F. Hegel]]'s lectures, and became thoroughly imbued with the principles of Hegel's [[philosophy]]. In 1820, after taking his doctor's degree, he returned to Berlin as a lecturer. In 1825 he converted to the [[Evangelical Church in Prussia]], and the following year was appointed extraordinary, and in 1828 ordinary, professor in the Berlin University faculty of [[law]]. Before converting, he was a member of the [[Wissenschaft des Judentums#The Verein für Kultur und Wissenschaft der Juden|Society for the Culture and Science of the Jews]], alongside [[Joel Abraham List]], [[Isaac Marcus Jost]] and [[Leopold Zunz]].

At this period, the historical school of [[jurisprudence]] was coming to the front. Gans, his Hegelian tendencies predisposing him to treat law historically, applied the method to one special branch—the right of succession. His great work, ''Erbrecht in weltgeschichtlicher Entwicklung'' (1824, 1825, 1829 and 1835), is of enduring value, not only for its extensive survey of facts, but for the admirable manner in which the general theory of the slow evolution of legal principles is presented.

In 1830, and again in 1835, Gans visited [[Paris, France|Paris]], and formed an intimate acquaintance with the leaders of literary culture and criticism there. The liberality of his views, especially on political matters, drew upon Gans the displeasure of the [[Prussia]]n government, and his course of lectures on the history of the last fifty years (published as ''Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der letzten fünfzig Jahre'', Leipzig, 1833–1834) was prohibited. He died in Berlin.

Other works are a treatise on the fundamental laws of property (''Über die Grundlage des Besitzes'', Berlin, 1829), a portion of a systematic work on the Roman civil law (''System des römischen Zivilrechts'', 1827), and a collection of his miscellaneous writings (''Vermischte Schriften''. 1832). Gans edited the ''Philosophie der Geschichte in Hegel's Werke'', and contributed a preface. He also wrote ''Das Erbrecht in Weltgeschichtlicher Entwickelung'' (4 vols., 1834) which was translated into [[French language|French]].

== References ==
* [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eduard-Gans Eduard Gans] on ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''
* Johann Braun: Judentum, Jurisprudenz und Philosophie. Bilder aus dem Leben des Juristen Eduard Gans (1797–1839). Nomos, Baden-Baden 1997,  {{ISBN|3-7890-4818-6}}
* {{cite journal |last=Breckman |first=Warren |date=July 2001 |title=Eduard Gans and the Crisis of Hegelianism |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/article/15122 |journal=[[Journal of the History of Ideas]] |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=543–564 |doi=10.1353/jhi.2001.0025 |s2cid=159605841 |access-date=6 July 2016}}
* {{cite book |last=Waszek |first=Norbert |date=2006 |chapter=Eduard Gans on Poverty and on the Constitutional Debate |editor-last=Moggach |editor-first=Douglas |editor-link=Douglas Moggach |title=The New Hegelians.Politics and Philosophy in the Hegelian School |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jW6lUSaEPBIC |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=yJ0wre5qeosC&pg=PA176&dq=%22Eduard+Gans+on+Poverty+and+on+the+Constitutional+Debate%22%2224–49%22 24–49] |isbn=978-1-139-45502-2}}
  
{{See also|Gans (surname)}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gans, Eduard}}
[[Category:Converts to Protestantism from Judaism]]
[[Category:German Protestants]]
[[Category:19th-century German Jews]]
[[Category:Jurists from Berlin]]
[[Category:Jurists from the Kingdom of Prussia]]
[[Category:1797 births]]
[[Category:1839 deaths]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin]]
[[Category:Hegelian philosophers]]
[[Category:19th-century German philosophers]]
[[Category:19th-century German jurists]]
[[Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni]]


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