LASKER, EDUARD (1829-1884), German publicist, was born on Oct. 14, 1829, at Jarotschin, Posen, being the son of a Jewish tradesman. He attended the gymnasium, and afterwards the university of Breslau. In 1848, after the outbreak of the revo lution, he went to Vienna and entered the students' legion, fighting against the imperial troops during the siege of the city in October. He then continued his legal studies at Breslau and Berlin, and after a visit of three years to England, then the model state for German liberals, entered the Prussian judicial service. In 1870 he left the government service, and in 1873 was appointed to an administrative post in the service of the city of Berlin. In 1865 he was elected member for one of the divisions of Berlin in the Prussian parliament. He joined the radical or Fortschritts party, and in 1867 was also elected to the German parliament, but he helped to form the national liberal party, and in consequence lost his seat in Berlin, which remained faithful to the radicals; after this he represented Magdeburg and Frankfort-on-Main in the Prussian, and Meiningen in the German, parliament. His motion that Baden should be included in the North German Confederation in Jan. 1870 caused much embarrassment to Bismarck, but prob ably hastened the crisis of 1870. His great work was his share in the judicial reform during the ten years 1867-77. To him more
than to any other single individual is due the great codification of the law. He compelled the government to withdraw or amend many proposals which seemed dangerous to liberty, but opposed those liberals who, unable to obtain all the concessions which they called for, refused to vote for the new laws as a whole. A speech by Lasker on Feb. 7, 1873, attacking the management of the Pome ranian railway and the revelations which followed led to the fall of Hermann Wagener, one of Bismarck's most trusted assistants. This episode is generally regarded as the beginning of the re action against economic liberalism by which he and his party were to be deprived of their influence. He refused to follow Bismarck in his financial and economic policy after 1878; always unsympa thetic to the chancellor, he was now selected for his most bitter attacks. In 1879 he lost his seat in the Prussian parliament; he joined the Sezession, but was ill at ease in his new position. He died suddenly in New York on Jan. 5, See L. Bamberger, Eduard Lasker, Gedenkrede (Leipzig, 1884) ; A. Wolff. Zur Erinnerung an Eduard Lasker (Berlin, 1884) ; Freund, Einiges fiber Eduard Lasker (Leipzig, 1885) ; and Eduard Lasker, seine Biographie and letzte offentliche Rede, by various writers (Stuttgart, 5884).