STAHL, FRIEDERICH JULIUS. - Jurist and politician, a Jew converted to Lutheranism, b. in Monaco di Baviera on 16 Jan. 1802, d. in Bad-Brückenau on 10 Aug. 1861.
He wrote various works, including: Das monarchische Prinzip (1845), Was ist Revolution? (1852), Der christliche Staat (1858), Die gegenwärtige Parteien in Staat und Kirche (1863), and, most importantly, Die Philosophie des Rechts in geschichtlicher Aussicht (1830-37; Italian trans., Storia della filosofia del diritto, 2 vols., Torino 1853). In this latter work, having demonstrated the unacceptability of Kantian and idealist philosophical theories concerning the essence of law and the State, S. resumed the traditional conception: authority has its foundation in God, and hence in a norm superior to both prince and people. The prince, therefore, responsible only before God, and while identifying himself with the very power of the State, must exercise that power, conditioned as it is by the moral good of the members of the community, with the collaboration of the representatives of the aristocracy, the national Church, and local autonomies.
This conception was adopted by the Prussian conservative party, which he led.