Liszt, Franz Von (1851–1919)

Franz von Liszt, born in Vienna, was a cousin of the composer Franz Liszt. He was the founder of the sociological school in criminal policy and a prominent expert in criminal and international law. From 1869, Liszt studied in Vienna under Rudolf von Jhering (1818–1892), who had a lasting influence on him and whose ideas in Zweck im Recht (The Purpose of Law) Liszt later incorporated into criminal law.

Liszt earned his doctorate in 1874, habilitation in Graz (1876), and became a professor in Gießen, then [Page 959]Marburg, Halle, and, finally, Berlin (1898–1916). He dedicated himself almost exclusively to criminal law during his first twenty years of research. In 1881, Liszt became the cofounder of the criminal law journal Zeitschrift für die gesamte Strafrechtswissenschaft (ZStW). From ...