WILLIAM

See also:

• JOSEPH
• JOSEPH, COMTE DE (1785-1870)
• JOSEPH, FATHER (FRANCOIS LECLERC DU TREMBLAY) (1577-1638)

JOSEPH

See also:

• WILLIAM JOSEPH BEHR (1775–1851)

BEHR (1775–1851)  , German publicist and writer, was born at Salzheim on the 26th of August 1775 . He studied law at Wurzburg and Gottingen, became professor of public law in the university of Wurzburg in 1799, and in 1819 was sent as a deputy to the Landtag of Bavaria . Having associated himself with the party of reform, he was regarded with suspicion by the Bavarian king Maximilian I. and the court party, although favoured for a time by Maximilian's son, the future King Louis I . In 1821 he was compelled to give up his professorship, but he continued to agitate for reform, and in 1831 the king refused to recognize his election to the Landtag . A speech delivered by Behr in 1832 was regarded as seditious, and he was arrested . In spite of his assertion of loyalty to the principle of monarchy he was detained in custody, and in 1836 was found guilty of seeking to injure the king . He then admitted his offence; but he was not released from prison until 1839, and the next nine years of his life were passed under police super-vision at Passau and Regensburg . In 1848 he obtained a free pardon and a sum of money as compensation, and was sent to the German national assembly which met at Frankfort in May of that year . He passed his remaining days at Bamberg, where he died on the 1st of August 1851 . Behr's chief writings are: Darstellung der Bedilrfnisse, Wiinsche and Hoffnungen deutscher Nation (Aschaffenburg, 1816); Die Verfassung and Verwaltung des Striates (Nuremberg, 1811–1812); Von den rechtlichen Grenzen der Einwirkung des Deutschen Bundes auf die Verfassung, Gesetzgebung, and Rechlspflege seiner Gliederstaaten (Stuttgart, 1820) .