| Eduard Henke | |
| Birth Name: | Hermann Wilhelm Eduard Henke |
| Birth Date: | 1783 9, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Braunschweig, Lower Saxony |
| Death Place: | Braunschweig, Lower Saxony |
| Numerous professorships and court roles | |
| Nationality: | German |
| Discipline: | Law Jurisprudence Criminology |
| Workplaces: | University of Landshut Court of Nuremberg University of Bern Court of Wolfenbüttel University of Halle |
| Alma Mater: | University of Göttingen University of Helmstedt University of Erlangen |
| Known For: | Handbook on Criminal Law and Criminal Politics (German: Handbuch des Criminalrechts und der Criminalpolitik) |
Hermann Wilhelm Eduard Henke (28 September 1783 – 14 March 1869) was a German jurist and criminologist. He was professor of law at the universities of Landshut, Bern, and Halle.[1]
Eduard Henke's family produced numerous doctors, lawyers, theologians and artists. He was born on 28 September 1783 in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, the ninth child of pastor Ernst Heinrich Ludwig Henke (1736–1785) and Wilhelmine Henke, née Spohr (1744–1806). Of his older brothers, Theodor Henke (1765–1843) became general superintendent of Braunschweig and Adolph Henke (1775–1843) professor of physiology and pathology at the University of Erlangen. His nephew was the composer Louis Spohr (1784–1859).
Henke studied law at the universities of Göttingen and Helmstedt. In 1806, he received his doctorate (Dr. Jur.) from Helmstedt with the dissertation De Vera Criminis Laesae Maiestatis Secundum Leges Positivas Indole Atque Poena. In the same year, he completed his habilitation at the University of Erlangen. Henke was appointed associate professor of law at the University of Landshut in 1808, and Nuremberg city court assessor in 1813.
From 1814 to 1832 Henke was professor of Roman law and criminal law at the University of Bern. In 1832, he was an appellate judge in Wolfenbüttel for one year. In 1833, he became full professor of law at the University of Halle, and in the same year was awarded the title of Secret Judiciary Council. He worked at the University of Halle until 1857.
Henke wrote numerous specialist publications. In 1809 he published on "common penal law in Germany". In 1811 he published a book on theories of criminal law, and his textbook on criminal law was completed in 1815. His main work, Handbook on Criminal Law and Criminal Politics (German: Handbuch des Criminalrechts und der Criminalpolitik), was published in four volumes from 1823 to 1838. The Handbook focussed on foreign legislation. Some of his monographs were reprinted in the 1990s as part of the series "Library of German Criminal Law (Masters of Modernism)". Henke also worked as a translator from French and English.
His daughter Amélie Henke (1827–1921) married Rudolf Leuckart (1822–1898), the zoologist and parasitologist.
Henke died aged 85 on March 14, 1869 in his native city of Braunschweig.