Carl Joseph Anton Mittermaier (5 August 1787 Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 - 28 August 1867 Heidelberg

Heidelberg

-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

) was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 jurist

Jurist

A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...

.

Biography

He was born in Munich, and educated at the universities of Landshut and Heidelberg. For some years he was professor at Landshut, then professor at Bonn

University of Bonn

The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...

 for two years, 1819-21, but the rest of his life was passed as professor of law and jurisprudence at Heidelberg.

Mittermaier was a member of the Baden

Baden

Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....

 legislature for nearly 20 years previous to 1841, when his grief at the death of his son caused him to withdraw. During that time, he had been three times president of the legislature. When he resumed his seat in 1846, he was again president during the session of 1847-48. In 1848 he was president of the Frankfurt Pre-Parliament

Frankfurt Parliament

The Frankfurt Assembly was the first freely elected parliament for all of Germany. Session was held from May 18, 1848 to May 31, 1849 in the Paulskirche at Frankfurt am Main...

 , serving afterwards as representative of the city of Baden

Baden-Baden

Baden-Baden is a spa town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe...

 in the Parliament proper where he advocated confederation, but opposed all extreme measures.

Work

His greatest claim to distinction lies in his extensive writings on jurisprudence

Jurisprudence

Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...

, among which is a complete manual of criminal law

Criminal law

Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...

, Das deutsche Strafverfahren, and he was an earnest advocate of reform in the German criminal procedure

Criminal procedure

Criminal procedure refers to the legal process for adjudicating claims that someone has violated criminal law.-Basic rights:Currently, in many countries with a democratic system and the rule of law, criminal procedure puts the burden of proof on the prosecution – that is, it is up to the...

 and in prison

Prison

A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

 discipline. The number of his published writings is very large, including many treatises on branches of law, discussions on all the important questions of his time connected with jurisprudence, and especially on trial by jury and the penal code.

Among his works are:

• Handbuch des peinlichen Prozesses (2 vols., Heidelberg, 1810-12) His first work on criminal law, later republished, enlarged and modified, under the title of Das deutsche Strafverfahren.
• Lehrbuch des deutschen Privatrechts (Landshut, 1821) Subsequently merged into his Grundsätze des gemeinen deutschen Privatrechts
• Theorie des Beweises im peinlichen Prozesse (2 vols., Darmstadt, 1821) Expounds principles relating to the examination of witnesses in criminal law.
• Der gemeine deutsche bürgerliche Prozess (1820-26) Contains a comprehensive exposition of the principles upon which civil trials should be conducted.
• Das deutsche Strafverfahren in der Fortbildung durch Gerichtsgebrauch und Particulargesetzgebung (2 vols., 1832) This passed through many editions.
• Lehrbuch des Criminalprozesses A manual of criminal law that passed through numerous editions.
• Die Lehre vom Beweise im deutschen Strafprozesse (1834; French translation, 1848; Spanish, 1851) Also expounds principles relating to the examination of witnesses in criminal law.
• Grundsätze des gemeinen deutschen Privatrechts, mit Einschluss des Handel-, Wechsel- und Seerechts (2 vols., Ratisbon, 1837-38)
• Italienische Zustände (Heidelberg, 1844) Embodies the result of his observations during frequent visits to Italy.
• Die Mündlichkeit, das Anklageprincip, die Oeffentlichkeit und das Geschworenengericht (Stuttgart, 1845) This brings the investigation and the enactments relating to trial by jury down to the period of its publication.
• Das deutsche Strafverfahren in der Fortbildung durch Gerichtsgebrauch und Landesgesetzbücher (Heidelberg, 1845-46) A complete manual of criminal law, considered his greatest work by some.
• Das englische, schottische und nordamerikanische Strafverfahren (Erlangen, 1851) Examines the administration of justice in England, Scotland, and the United States.
• Anleitung zur Vertheidigungskunst im Criminalprozesse (translated into Italian by Garba, 1858) Also expounds principles relating to the examination of witnesses in criminal law.
• Die Gefängnissverbesserung (Improving prisons, 1858)
• Der gegenwärtige Zustand der Gefängnissfrage (The current standing of the prison question, 1860)
• Die Todesstrafe &c. (The death penalty; Heidelberg, 1862)
• Erfahrungen über die Wirksamkeit der Schwurgerichte in Europa und Amerika (Experience with the utility of juries in Europe and America, 1865)

His principal works have been translated into many languages. He himself translated Francis Lieber

Francis Lieber

Francis Lieber , known as Franz Lieber in Germany, was a German-American jurist, gymnast and political philosopher. He edited an Encyclopaedia Americana...

's Letter on Anglican and Gallican Liberty into German, and edited the German translation of Lieber's Civil Liberty.