Philipp Heck

Philipp Heck, born 22 July 1858 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, and who died 28 June 1943 in Tubingen, was a German jurist who studied in Berlin and taught law from 1891 at the University of Greifswald, from 1892 at the University of Halle, and from 1901 to 1928 at the University of Tubingen. He was a leading proponent of the jurisprudence of interests, a doctrine holding that a written law must be interpreted to reflect the interests it is meant to promote, and his work on judicial methodology was highly influential in establishing this school against the rival doctrines of free law and the jurisprudence of concepts, alongside fellow proponents Rudolf Muller-Erzbach, Arthur F. Bentley and Roscoe Pound. Under National Socialist rule he attempted to gain favor with the regime by using his methodology to justify the application of Nazi racial legislation.