Joseph Unger

Joseph Unger was an Austrian jurist and statesman. Having studied law at the university of his native city, he in 1850 was appointed assistant librarian, and in 1852 privatdozent, at his alma mater. The following year he was called to Prague as assistant professor at the university, and in 1855 to Vienna in a similar capacity. In 1857, he was appointed professor of jurisprudence at the latter institution. In 1867, he was successively elected a member of the Austrian Landtag and of the Reichsrat; but on account of ill health he had to resign in the following year. Appointed in 1869 by the Emperor Franz Joseph a life-member of the House of Lords, he soon became the whip of the Liberal Party. Two years later, he became minister in Prince Auersperg's cabinet, but resigned upon the prime minister's defeat in 1879. In 1881 he was appointed president of the Reichsgericht. Unger converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism in 1852.