Frederik Stang - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This article is about the Prime Minister, for his grandson the Minister of Justice, see Fredrik Stang
Fredrik Stang
Fredrik Stang was the Norwegian Minister of Justice 1912–1913. He was chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee 1922–1940.-Personal life:He was born in Kristiania as the son of Emil Stang and his wife Adelaide Pauline Berg...

.

Frederik Stang (4 March 1808, Stokke

Stokke

Stokke is a municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Stokke.-Background:The municipality of Stokke was established on 1 January 1838...

- 1884) was a Norwegian lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, public servant, and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

who served as Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

's first prime minister.
Frederik Stang was the driving force in the Norwegian political society. Stang was responsible for the start of the material development in Norway, in the middle of the 19th century. His struggle to preserve the distribution of power - "the system Stang" - led to a bitter political struggle in the last years of his life came to a shadow of his big-building efforts for the country.
Stang was known as Friederich until the late 1930s. He entered Law school

Law school

A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...

at the age of 16 and graduated by the time he was 20. 22 years old, he accepted a position as lecturer of law at the University of Oslo

University of Oslo

The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...

. During this time, he published a seminal text on Norwegian constitutional law. He went over to private practice

Private practice

Private practice may refer to:*Practice of law*Medical practice*Private Practice , released in 1978 by Dr. Feelgood*Private Practice , a U.S.-produced medical drama...

in 1834, where he distinguished himself as a trial attorney, especially in supreme court

Supreme court

A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...

cases.
In 1861, after a brief stint as mayor of Oslo, Stang was appointed to the Norwegian cabinet. His time as a political leader was characterized by considerable discord within the Norwegian parliament and between Norway

Norway

and the Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

government.

In 1865, Stang founded the Norwegian Red Cross

Norwegian Red Cross

The Norwegian Red Cross was founded September 22, 1865 by prime minister Frederik Stang. In 1907 the Norwegian Ministry of Defence authorized the organization for voluntary medical aid in war...

. In 1870, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2...

.

The parliament cut his pension in half in 1881; the citizens of Oslo raised money to make up for the shortfall, and he donated this to a foundation to advance Law school

Law school

A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...

Childhood

Stang grew up in straitened circumstances.
His father was most of his life an underpaid judge, first in Ryfylke

Ryfylke

Ryfylke is a traditional district in Norway, located northeast of Stavanger and east of Haugesund. In the east it borders Setesdal and Sirdal.Ryfylke comprises the contemporary municipalities of Sauda, Suldal, Finnøy, Hjelmeland, Forsand, Strand, Kvitsøy and Rennesøy...

and later in Nordhordland

Nordhordland

Nordhordland is a traditional district in the western part of Norway, consisting of the northern portion of the county of Hordaland. It includes the municipalities Austrheim, Fedje, Lindås, Masfjorden, Meland, Modalen, Osterøy, Radøy and Vaksdal....

. His father struggled to find money for the childrens education. As a 13-year-old Frederick was in the Latin school in Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

. From there, he was discharged only 16 years old and therefore needed special permission to take the test at school graduation. He remarked himself as the best of all of the 62 candidates, and the following year he took another exam præceteris. Even during school hours in Bergen

Bergen

, he had to make a living by giving private lessons, and as a student in Christiania

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, he continued as a teacher, since he was 18 years with the right to discharge their students to school graduation, and sometimes as a teacher at the Møller Institute (Møllerinstituttet).
22 years old, he accepted a position as lecturer of law at the University of Oslo

University of Oslo

. During this time, he published a seminal text on the Norwegian

Norway

constitutional law. He went over to private practice

Private practice

Private practice may refer to:*Practice of law*Medical practice*Private Practice , released in 1978 by Dr. Feelgood*Private Practice , a U.S.-produced medical drama...

in 1834, where he distinguished himself as a trial attorney, especially in supreme court

Supreme court

cases.

Study years

In the first year of his studies, Stang was a good friend of Henrik Wergeland

Henrik Wergeland

Henrik Arnold Thaulow Wergeland was a Norwegian writer, most celebrated for his poetry but also a prolific playwright, polemicist, historian, and linguist...

but they were in love with the same girl and a growing conflict became inevitable. The flamboyant "studenterliv" that a majority of the students brought with Wergeland in the lead, was in violation of Stang' ideals of duty, which was fed by economic distress. He was active in the Norwegian Students' Society and chairman of two brief periods, but withdrew along with the other of "intelligence", the circle of the most gifted and promising students Count Wedel gathered about him in "the circuit at Bogstad": JS Welhaven, Christian Birch-Reichenwald, Bernhard Dunker, PA Munch and AM Schweigaard. In particular, Wedel was preferred and probably the one he saw as his heir in politics. "You are, as if you were engaged to Stang," said the countess to her husband: "When he is present, you forget all us others." Then the circle broke away and formed The Norwegian Students' Association, Stang were the editor of the associations magazine Vidar, but other than this, his relationships with the other members were relatively distant.

Stang and politics

Immediately after Stang had passed the exam in 1828, he published an article in Morgenbladet

Morgenbladet

Morgenbladet is a Norwegian weekly newspaper. It was founded in 1819 by the book printer Niels Wulfsberg, and was the country's first daily newspaper. For a long time, it was also the country's biggest newspaper. It was closed down by the German Wehrmacht during World War II...

about accountability law, which had influence on the Parliament's consideration of the matter and made it clear that the country with him had been given a gift that was much needed as reinforcement of the Faculty of Law . This had two teaching positions, both of which were occupied only occasionally and often with less-than-qualified people. After a time as clerk in the Justice Department (now replaced with the Ministry of Justice and the Police) Stang worked as a "senior lecturer" in 1829, before he, two years later was appointed as an assistant professor, still only 23 years old. Peter Motzfeldt

Peter Motzfeldt

Peter Motzfeldt was a member of the constitutional assembly in Norway in 1814, then a Norwegian member of the Council of State Division in Stockholm 1814-1816, 1818-1819, 1824-1825, 1828-1829, 1831-1832, and 1834-1835, Minister of the Army 1816-1818 and 1819-1822, and Minister of Auditing...

was appointed somewhat earlier, and together the two credit for having laid the foundations for an independent Norwegian law. Stang's lectures over the natural law circulated in summary form among students in 30 years, and his lectures on constitutional law was the basis for the study of constitutional law for decades to come.

Life as a lawyer

Stang was in November 1832 appointed as a Supreme Court lawyer

Lawyer

. He soon became a leading lawyer with a lucrative practice, and as a recognized legal capacity, he was also asked for public contracts. 1837-45 he was a member of Christiania City Council and in the same period, also a member of a number of public committees (for a revision of the draft Penal Code, a pension scheme for civil servants, change of impeachment rules) and controls (Norwegian Society for Development, Christiania technical organization, the Union mod Brændeviinsdrik).

In 1837, he was also appointed Attorney General, a significant vote of confidence, which, however, were not financially lucrative, and in 1839 he were replaced as the Attorney General of Norges Bank. As the Attorney General, it was his task to give advice in difficult legal matters that not seldom was of fundamental importance. One such case concerned the enforcement of the order that the Quakers could just be living in Stavanger. Stang's argument here eventually led to the free exercise of religion for all dissenters. The greatest attention at the time aroused his brilliant and successful defense in the 1845 impeachment of minister JH Vogt. Immediately after the case was concluded with an acquittal verdict, Stang was appointed Chief of the new Ministry of the interior (Now replaced with the Ministry of Transport and Communication or Samferdselsdepartementet SD).

Politician

In 1846, Stang became the most senior civil servant in the newly formed (and no longer existent) Domestic Ministry (Innenlandsdepartementet). He served in this position until 1856, and his tenure was characterized by tireless efforts to modernize Norway

Norway

's economic infrastructure

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...

. In addition to improving the road network, harbor

Harbor

A harbor or harbour , or haven, is a place where ships, boats, and barges can seek shelter from stormy weather, or else are stored for future use. Harbors can be natural or artificial...

s, canal

Canal

Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...

s, and lighthouse

Lighthouse

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

s, he was in great measure responsible for Norway

Norway

and Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

's first railroad

Hovedbanen

The Hoved Line is a railway line in Norway which runs between Oslo and Eidsvoll. The line is owned by the Norwegian National Rail Administration.-History:...

, from Oslo

Oslo

to Eidsvoll

Eidsvoll

is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet.-Name:...

. He also worked hard to elevate the importance and function of agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

in Norway

Norway

, initiating the formation of a university-level school of agriculture

Agriculture

, commissioned travelling agrarians, and encouraged better breeding among Norwegian farm animals.
Stang published a long series of articles on important constitutional issues and Stang presented his fundamental political program. His starting point was that Norway had a "democratic-monarchy" form of government, where the Parliament was an expression of popular will but Stang wondered why the Constitution had been a subject to a restrictive and constraining power of the King as the main leader of the nation. Stang saw the dangers of the development of a sclerotic, bureaucratic system and pointed out the need for interaction between the will of the people and the government's superior insight. The so-called "Almennvilje(n)" and should be the moving force. His view was a sort of democratic elitism, as historians such as Rune Slagstad

Rune Slagstad

Rune Slagstad is a Norwegian historian, philosopher and legal theorist. In addition to professional work, he has since the late sixties contributed actively to public debate on a variety of issues.- Biography :...

aptly describes it. The Government should by their educational expertise and their prerogatives ensure that decisions are systematically made public, and not only was the result of chance or narrow self-interests.

Stang and liberalism

Stang was economically liberal, but like Schweigaard- his closest partner in parliament - he rejected the laissez faire model. Liberalism had to involve a moral element and in combination with a dynamic state serve "the People's Prosperity, Health and Formation." On this basis he rejected the absolute veto

Veto

A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is the power of an officer of the state to unilaterally stop an official action, especially enactment of a piece of legislation...

in constitutional matters, but extended the suspensive veto to include all cases that were not expressly exempted, for example financial matters. Among the changes to the constitution that he considered desirable was the abolition of the governor and that the ministers should have access to the Parliament and should command issues in-council.
The government which Stang now was a member of, consisted of older, well-trained female officers with little or no political experience, who perceived themselves as heads of department and not as members of a political body. State Council was well intentioned, but weak and far from the dynamic educational force in the current reform policies that were consistent with future needs. With his extraordinary talent, Stang was widely supported by the other ministers. But he was not limited to his ministry's affairs, he also engaged in issues from the other ministries, and here he would often incur their much older colleagues' irritation at his stubbornness and temper.

Stang and The Interior Ministry

The Interior Ministry had been assigned the responsibility for industrial roads, supplies, medisinalvesen, mail, transport, canal, building and fire departments, measure and weight, insurance matters, municipalities, and the statistical tables. In all these areas were Stang statsrådsår innovative. Many of the issues he brought to a solution, were old cases that had only lacked powerful control. It was such. the new old Act, as it had been worked on towards 20 years and under Stang's leadership and in cooperation with the parliamentary opposition was adopted in 1851. The law led to a boom in road construction. Government annual funding was doubled in the years up to 1850 and doubled again until 1860, and the municipal funding also showed strong growth. Planned unit was bolstered by a new veiingeniørkontor the Ministry.

Honours and awards

Frederik Stang became a member of The Royal Norwegian Scientific Society in 1846, "Videnskabs-Selskabet" in Christiania

Oslo

at its founding in 1857 and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

in Stockholm. He was appointed Commander of the Order of St. Olav at its founding in 1847 and was awarded the Grand Cross in 1853. Four years later, he received the highest award in the country, Bürgerverdienstmedallie in gold. He was a Knight of the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim and had the Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog

Order of the Dannebrog

The Order of the Dannebrog is an Order of Denmark, instituted in 1671 by Christian V. It resulted from a move in 1660 to break the absolutism of the nobility. The Order was only to comprise 50 noble Knights in one class plus the Master of the Order, i.e. the Danish monarch, and his sons...

and other foreign orders.

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