Justi, Johannn Heinrich Gottlob Von (1720–1771)

Abstract

Born in modest circumstances in a Thuringian village in late December 1717, Justi is best known today as one of the architects of mid-18th-century cameralism. He studied law at Wittenberg in 1742–4, then embarked upon a career of literary activity and state service. In 1750 he was appointed tutor to the son of Haugwitz, reforming administrator of Maria Theresa, archduchess of Austria, and then later the same year to a post at the Viennese Theresianum, where he lectured on ‘commerce and public economics’ to civil servants of noble descent. The lectures were later published in 1755 under the title Staatswirthschaft, by which time Justi had made a hasty departure from Vienna and taken up a new post as Director of Police in Göttingen. This was associated with a transfer of political allegiance from Vienna to Berlin, which new allegiance forced him to leave Göttingen in 1757 when occupation by the French, allied with the Austrians, threatened. For several years he lived from his writings, before being appointed Prussian Inspector of Mines, Glass and Steel Works in 1765. Embroiled in a financial scandal of obscure origin in 1768, he was imprisoned and died in the fortress at Küstrin in 1771.