Anders Sandøe Ørsted facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Anders Sandøe Ørsted
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Portrait by Christian Albrecht Jensen, dated circa 1840
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| 3rd Prime Minister of Denmark | |
| In office 21 April 1853 – 12 December 1854 |
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| Monarch | Frederick VII |
| Preceded by | Christian Albrecht Bluhme |
| Succeeded by | Peter Georg Bang |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 December 1778 Rudkøbing, Denmark |
| Died | 1 May 1860 (aged 81) Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Political party | Højre |
| Alma mater | University of Copenhagen |
Anders Sandøe Ørsted (21 December 1778 – 1 May 1860) was a Danish lawyer, politician and jurist. He served as the Prime Minister of Denmark in 1853–1854.
Biography
He studied philosophy and law at the University of Copenhagen and was admitted to the bar in 1799. He became a noted jurist. An early case overseen by him was that of Hans Jonatan, an escaped slave, which was (at least viewed retrospectively) a major test case in Danish law on slavery; Anders condemned Hans to be returned to the West Indies, where he had been purchased (Hof-og Stadsret: Generalmajorinde Henriette de Schimmelmann contra mulatten Hans Jonathan 1802).
Relatively early, he was connected to the national administration, and from 1825 to 1848, he was “generalprokurør” (juridical adviser of the government). He drew up the constitution which was granted in 1831. He was cabinet minister 1842–48, and from October 1853 to December 1854 was prime minister. He was forced to resign from his office as prime minister by his unpopular conservatism, a distinct departure from his earlier politics. In 1855, he was impeached on the charge of breaking the constitution, but he was acquitted and retired to private life.
Literary works
Throughout his career Ørsted was a prolific writer. Among other things he wrote on Kantian and Hegelian philosophy, on Danish and Norwegian law, on Scandinavian politics (1857) and left an autobiography (1856). He was also the editor of several journals, most notable Juridisk Arkiv (1804-1812), Nyt Juridisk Arkiv (1812-1830) and Juridisk Tidsskrift (1820-1840), as well as the official government periodical publication Collegial-Tidende (1815-34 co-edited with Peter Johan Monrad, and exclusively by Ørsted 1834–1848).
Family
He was the brother of noted physicist Hans Christian Ørsted (1777–1851), and uncle of the botanist Anders Sandøe Ørsted (1816–1872). He was married to Sophie Ørsted née Oehlenschläger (1782–1818) and was the brother-in-law of Adam Oehlenschläger.
