Wilhelm Breitling

Wilhelm August Breitling (from 1885 von Breitling; 4 January 1835 – 20 April 1914) was a German lawyer who served as Prime Minister of Württemberg from 1901 to 1906.

Early life Breitling was born in Gaildorf in Schwäbisch Hall on 4 January 1835. He was the eldest of five sons of Paul Breitling (1798–1867) and Karoline (née Wucherer) Breitling, a daughter of clerk Friedrich Wilhelm Wucherer in Langenburg. In 1889, he became Real Councilor of State, as well as a member of the Privy Council and the Administrative Court. On 16 September 1896 he was appointed head of the Department of Justice, heading the Ministry of Justice until 4 December 1906. Breitling's appointment as President of the State Ministry was generally regarded as an interim solution, since he was already 66 years old at the time, and the other candidate, Karl von Weizsäcker, was considered too inexperienced at the time. As Minister of Justice, Breitling kept the Civil Code in Württemberg, whereby some legal peculiarities of the state were preserved. Breitling had previously taken part in drafting the German Civil Code.

In addition to tax and administrative reform, Breitling's government was characterized by a revision of the Württemberg constitution which converted the Second Chamber of the Diet into a purely people's chamber with 92 elected representatives, before any other German state. The previously privileged members of the Second Chamber moved to the First Chamber , which ceased to be purely an organ of the nobility. The Breitling government remained a purely civil servant government, despite the beginnings of a parliamentary monarchy under the long-standing Mittnacht government. According to the Württemberg constitution of 1819, the King alone had the right to appoint and dismiss Ministers. This principle of a monarchical authoritarian state did not change in liberal Württemberg until the Liesching government two days before the German Revolution.

Following a stroke, Breitling retired in December 1906 and was succeeded by Weizsäcker as Minister-President, who praised Breitling as an excellent civil servant, and by Friedrich von Schmidlin, as Minister of Justice.

Personal life In 1866 he married Lina Koch (1846–1937), the daughter of the magistrate Friedrich Koch.

Honors and awards 1885: Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Order of the Württemberg Crown (which was associated with the personal title of nobility) 1890: Commander's Cross, second class, of the Friedrich Order 1894: Commendation Cross of the Order of the Crown 1900: Grand Cross with Crown of the Friedrich Order 1902: Grand Cross of the Order Order of the Crown 1906: Award of the Diamonds to the Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown