HINSCHIUS, PAUL. - German canonist, b. in Berlin on 25 Dec. 1835, d. there on 13 Dec. 1898. A student at the Universities of Heidelberg and Berlin, he earned his doctorate in law at the latter on 10 Feb. 1855. Privatdocent in ecclesiastical law at Berlin (1859), he later became full professor at Halle (1863-1865) and at Berlin (1872-98). Member of the Reichstag and of the House of Lords, he played a leading role in the preparation of Prussian ecclesiastical legislation ("May Laws," 1873 and 1899, under Bismarck's government). He stands among the most representative figures of the new German school of ecclesiastical law. Though Protestant, he professed the subordination of the Church to the State based on regalist-Febronian theories; a forthright opponent of the Catholic Church, he generally displayed accuracy and fairness in reproducing its doctrines and institutions.
Among his works, the most outstanding for scientific value and breadth of content is the voluminous treatise: *Das Kirchenrecht der Katholiken und Protestanten in Deutschland* (6 vols., Berlin 1869-97), left incomplete at the 1st part of vol. VI, as he had not yet exhausted the program of *System des katholischen Kirchenrechts*. Of great value is his critical edition of the Pseudo-Isidorian decretals and the chapters of Angliannus: *Decretales Pseudo-Isidorianae et capitula Anglianni* (Leipzig 1863). Other principal works: *Das landesherrliche Patronatrecht gegenüber der katholischen Kirche* (Berlin 1856); *Beiträge zur Lehre von der Eidesdelation mit besonderer Rücksicht auf das canonische Recht* (ibid. 1860); *Die preussischen Kirchengesetze des Jahres 1873* (ibid. 1873); *Die Orden und Congregationen der katholischen Kirche in Preussen* (ibid. 1874; placed on the Index, decree of 11 Dec. 1874).