Lars Georg Rabenius, Textbook on the Swedish Church Law – An Essay, 1836.

Lars Georg Rabenius, Lärobok i svenska kyrkolagfarenheten – Försök.

Textbook on the Swedish Church Law – An Essay.

(Örebro : N.M. Lindhs Boktr. [The Printing house of N.M. Lindh] 1836). Bound in contemporary brown half leather with yellow-green marbled paper boards; broken inner hinges.

Lars Georg Rabenius (1771–1846; enobled in 1834, keeping his family name) was professor of law at Uppsala University, 1807–1837. Through “[h]is zeal and conscientiousness [as a textbook writer] he could be said to have exerted an influence on the education of civil servants, long after resigning as a teacher.” (Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon II, 1906). Notably, the Church of Sweden was part of the state until 2000, making church law a part of public law until then.

Provenance notes. This volume was purchased by the UMN Law Library on February 4, 1953, from Björck & Börjesson (see other items in this exhibit for more on the firm). The lawyers associated with the owner-stamp “Advokaterna [=The Attorneys] Forssner, Bergman och [=and] Bauer” all held important positions in The Swedish Bar Association (Sveriges Advokatsamfund). Tom H. Forssner (1874–1951) was its chairman, 1920–1933. He was conferred the title of doctor juris honoris causa when Uppsala University celebrated its 450-year jubilee in 1927. Dick Bergman (1889–1951) was also a member of the board, 1948–1954. Harald Bauer (1897–1944) had been a member of the board for several years when he passed away at only 47 years old. “[H]e had been counted as a leading force for the fulfillment of important tasks in the future [ … ] the traces of his example will remain in Swedish legal life.” (Svensk Juristtidning, 1945). He was the father of Sven Harald Bauer (1924–2004), also an Advokat, who was the chairman of The Swedish Bar Association, 1981–1985. To a large extent, Bauer represented American companies who wanted to establish themselves in Sweden after World War II.