FRIEDRICH JULIUS STAHL. — Jurist and political figure, a Jew who converted to Lutheranism, born in Munich on 16 January 1802, died in Bad-Brückenau on 10 August 1861.
He wrote several works, including: *Das monarchische Prinzip* (1845), *Was ist Revolution?* (1852), *Der christliche Staat* (1858), *Die gegenwärtige Parteien in Staat und Kirche* (1863), and, most notably, *Die Philosophie des Rechts in geschichtlicher Aussicht* (1830–37; Italian trans., *Storia della filosofia del diritto*, 2 vols., Turin 1853). In this last work, having demonstrated the unacceptability of Kantian and idealist philosophical theories regarding the essence of law and the State, Stahl revived the traditional conception: authority has its foundation in God, and thus in a norm superior to both prince and people. The prince, therefore, answerable only to God and yet identified with the very essence of the State, must exercise this power—conditioned as it is by the moral good of the community—in collaboration with the representatives of the aristocracy, the national Church, and local self-governing bodies.
This conception was adopted by the Prussian Conservative Party, which he led.
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