Gheorghe Gh. Mârzescu

Gheorghe Gh. Mârzescu (also known as George G. Mârzescu; July 4, 1876 – May 12, 1926) was a Romanian lawyer, journalist and politician. A member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), he was Minister of Agriculture (1916–1918), Interior (1918–1919), Labor and Social Protection (1922–1923) and Justice (1923–1926) in successive cabinets of Ion I. C. Brătianu.

Biography Descended from a Iași clerical family, his great-grandfather was the Romanian Orthodox archimandrite Gherasim Mârzescu, while his father Gheorghe Mârzescu was a prominent member of the city's liberal circles. He attended high school in his native city, began studying law at the University of Iași, obtained his degree in the field from the University of Bucharest and studied for but did not complete a law doctorate at the University of Paris. In 1896, he worked as chief of staff at the Religious Affairs and Education Ministry headed by his father, and himself entered the PNL in 1901. In November 1916, he became vice president of the Chamber of Deputies. From December 1916 to January 1918, he was agriculture minister in the cabinet of Ion I. C. Brătianu, This was a coalition government between the PNL and the Conservative-Democratic Party.

From 1922 to 1923 he was Labor and Social Protection Minister, and Justice Minister from 1923 to 1926. In that capacity, he pushed through a number of laws; among the subjects these dealt with were acquisition and loss of Romanian citizenship; combating offenses against public order; simplifying legal procedures for speedier trials; reorganizing courts, particularly in the territories acquired at the end of the war; restricting firearm ownership; simplifying procedures for heirs of those killed in action during the war; reforming the High Court of Cassation and Justice; and setting up a Legislative Council—the last two in pursuance of the new 1923 Constitution.

Finally, Mârzescu championed a proposal that became known as the "Mârzescu Law", adopted in February 1924, that banned "extremist" parties and organizations. The law targeted the Romanian Communist Party (PCdR), which was banned that April. It was motivated by an increased activity of the party and its support for self-determination to the point of secession of Bessarabia, Dobruja and Transylvania. The law, which effectively reduced the Communist group to a base of committed activists, was advocated by all the major political forces, ever since the party had publicized its pro-Comintern platform.

He died of a serious illness in 1926 in Bucharest; at the time, he was president of the Iași PNL chapter. He had two daughters and a son, A primary school in Iași bears his name.