Johann Jakob Moser

Who was Johann Jakob Moser?

Johann Jakob Moser was a German jurist, publicist and researcher, whose work earned him the title "The Father of German Constitutional Law" and whose political commitment to the principles of Liberalism caused him to lose academic positions and spend years as a political prisoner.

Moser was born and died in Stuttgart. After attending Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium, he studied at the University of Tübingen, and was brilliant enough to be already at the age of 19 appointed a professor of Law in the same university .

Soon afterwards he entered the civil service of the Holy Roman Empire, and was appointed as a "state adviser" in the Imperial Court. He held a long series of administrative appointments, giving him a thorough knowledge of political and constitutional issues.

In 1736 he was called to head the Faculty of Law at the University of Frankfurt, but had to leave after three years due to his thoroughly Liberal ideas which were disliked by King Frederick William I of Prussia.

He spent the years 1739 to 1747 at Oberndorf, mainly concerned with completing the monumental 53 volumes of his Deutsches Staatsrecht, a pioneering research analysing the named subject matter more systematically than ever done before, and based on a through study of the sources.