Robert Hermanson
Finnish politician and jurist (1846–1928)
Robert Fredrik Hermanson (2 February 1846 – 10 December 1928) was a Finnish jurist and professor of constitutional law at the University of Helsinki. As a scholar he produced the principal systematic account of the public law of the Grand Duchy of Finland, which became an authoritative reference during the period of Russification in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He sat in the Diet of Finland for the Clerical Estate from 1897 to 1906, chaired the Law Committee at the extraordinary Diet of 1899, and led the committee that drafted the Parliament Act of 1906 which established Finland's unicameral parliament.
Background and studies
Born in Uleåborg (Oulu), Hermanson matriculated at the Imperial Alexander University in Finland (now the University of Helsinki) in 1861, taking the degree of Candidate of Philosophy in 1867 and Candidate of Laws in 1875. He was granted the title of vicehäradshövding in 1876. From 1867 to 1879 he was employed at the university library, a position he combined with his legal studies.
He prepared his doctoral thesis in 1878–1880 in Strasbourg under the German constitutional theorist Paul Laband, and obtained both his licentiate and doctorate in law in 1881. The dissertation, Om lagstiftningen, dess begrepp och förhållande till andra statliga funktioner ("On Legislation, Its Concept and Relation to Other Functions of the State"), was theoretical in approach and concerned with constructing a coherent conceptual framework for legislation as a state function.
Professorship and scholarship
Hermanson was appointed docent in legal encyclopaedia and constitutional law in 1881 and, after defending the specimen work Om Finlands ständer, deras förhållande till monarken och folket ("On the Estates of Finland, Their Relation to the Monarch and the People"), professor of cameral and police jurisprudence and constitutional law in 1884. He held the chair until 1908; when it was divided in 1907, the administrative law portion was assigned to K. J. Ståhlberg — later the first President of Finland — while Hermanson continued for a further year with political theory and international law.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5802420. VIAF identifies the subject as 71055724. The Library of Congress control number is no2002029442. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1846, 1928, 1897 and 1906.
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This entry incorporates text from “Robert Hermanson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.