Theodor Viehweg

Theodor Viehweg (1907 to 1988) was a German legal philosopher born in Leipzig. His 1953 book Topik und Jurisprudenz, published in five editions and translated into Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese, argued for a rhetorical, topics based approach to legal reasoning and is considered a seminal work of postwar legal methodology. He taught legal philosophy and sociology at the University of Mainz, co founded the journal Archiv fur Rechts und Sozialphilosophie, and is regarded as a leading figure of the Mainz School of legal rhetoric.