| Office: | County Governor of Sør-Trøndelag |
| Term Start: | 16 January 1940 |
| Term End: | 18 October 1947 |
| Primeminister: | Johan Nygaardsvold Einar Gerhardsen |
| Predecessor: | Odd Klingenberg |
| Successor: | Ivar Skjånes |
| Office2: | Minister of Justice |
| Term Start2: | 25 June 1945 |
| Term End2: | 5 November 1945 |
| Primeminister2: | Einar Gerhardsen |
| Predecessor2: | Terje Wold |
| Successor2: | O. C. Gundersen |
| Office3: | Mayor of Trondheim |
| Term Start3: | 1 January 1931 |
| Term End3: | 31 December 1934 |
| Predecessor3: | Andreas Moe |
| Successor3: | Harald Pedersen |
| Birth Date: | 25 February 1889 |
| Birth Place: | Skogn, Levanger, Nord-Trøndelag, Sweden-Norway |
| Death Place: | Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag, Norway |
| Spouse: | Hjørdis Mack Floer |
| Children: | 5[1] |
| Party: | Conservative Free-minded Liberal |
Johan Cappelen (25 February 1889 – 18 October 1947) was a Norwegian lawyer and politician for the Conservative Party.
He was born in Skogn[2] as a son of physician Johan Christian Severin Cappelen (1855–1936) and Katharina M. Steen (1859–1915). He had one sister and one brother. He was a nephew of physician Axel Hermansen Cappelen.[3]
He graduated from the Royal Frederick University with cand.jur. degree in 1911. He worked as a deputy judge, and from 1915, attorney in Trondhjem. He was barrister[4] with access to work with Supreme Court from 1922.[2]
As a politician Cappelen was elected to Trondhjem city council, serving as mayor from 1931 to 1934. In 1940 he was appointed County Governor of Sør-Trøndelag. However, due to the German occupation of Norway Cappelen was removed in the autumn of 1940.[2]
In 1942 he joined the "Five Man Committee" in Trøndelag which was going to build the resistance group Sivorg. He was a close contact of Ferdinand Schjelderup in Kretsen. In 1943 he was denounced by Henry Rinnan when the Thingstad Group was discovered.[5] He was arrested in March 1943 and imprisoned in Vollan and Falstad.[6] After falling ill he was transferred to Innherred Hospital, where he managed to continue his resistance work with contacts to Trondheim.[5] However, in March 1945 he was transferred to Grini concentration camp and remained there until the war's end.[6]
When the occupation ended in 1945, Cappelen was appointed Minister of Justice and the Police in the non-partisan coalition government Gerhardsen's First Cabinet. This cabinet lasted from June to November 1945, when a general election was held and the Gerhardsen's Second Cabinet assumed office. Cappelen was then reinstated as County Governor of Sør-Trøndelag, a post he held until his death in 1947.[2]