Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg

Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg (1865 to 1952) was a Finnish jurist and academic, the first president of Finland from 1919 to 1925 and one of the most important pioneers of republicanism in the country. Born in Suomussalmi in the Grand Duchy of Finland, he took a bachelor's degree in law at the University of Helsinki in 1889 and a doctorate in 1893, planned the Senate's legislation as a civil servant, and from 1894 taught administrative law at Helsinki, becoming professor in 1908 and writing the influential Finnish administrative law. A constitutionalist who opposed the Russification of Finland, he served as a senator in 1905 to 1907 and as a member of Parliament, chaired the Constitutional Council and shaped the republican constitution enacted in 1919. In 1918 he became the first president of the Supreme Administrative Court, and in July 1919 Parliament elected him the first president of the Republic over Carl Gustaf Mannerheim by 143 votes to 50. As a jurist he anchored the state in liberal democracy and guarded the rule of law, and he kept a significant political role as an adviser until his death.