Otto Mejer
Otto Karl Alexander Mejer was a German canon law
specialist and church historian.
He studied law at the universities of Göttingen, Berlin and Jena, receiving his doctorate at Göttingen in 1841. While a student in Berlin, he was deeply influenced by the teachings of Friedrich Carl von Savigny. Not long after graduation, he became a lecturer at Göttingen, and in 1845/46 took an extended study trip to Rome.
In 1847 he became a full professor of law at the University of Königsberg, which was followed by professorships at Greifswald and Rostock. In 1874 he returned as a professor to Göttingen, where he taught classes until his retirement in 1883. From 1885 to 1893 he was president of the State Consistory at the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover, then the highest-ranking office of the church.
Principal works
- Institutionen des gemeinen deutschen Kirchenrechtes, 1845 - Institutions of common German canon law.
- Die Propaganda, ihre Provinzen und ihr Recht. Mit besonderer Rücksicht auf Deutschland, 1853 - Propaganda, provinces and their rights, with a special reference to Germany.
- Eine Erinnerung an Barthold Georg Niebuhr, 1867 - In memorance of Barthold Georg Niebuhr.
- Lehrbuch des deutschen Kirchenrechts - Textbook of German canon law.
- Zur Geschichte der römisch-deutschen Frage, 1871-75 - History of the Roman-German question. A description involving the development of legal relations between the state and the Catholic Church within the German states.
- Febronius, Weihbischof Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim und sein Widerruf, 1880 - Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim and his revocation.