Carl Hilty

Carl Hilty.

Carl Hilty (28 February 1833 - 1909) was a Swiss philosopher, writer and lawyer. He famously said "Peace is only a hair's breadth away from war."

Carl Hilty was born in Chur, Switzerland, and studied at the Universities of Göttingen, Heidelberg, London, and Paris. In 1874, he was became Professor of Constitutional Law (Staats- und Volkerrecht) at the University of Bern. From 1886, he edited Politisches Jahrbuch der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft (The Journal of Swiss Jurisprudence). In 1890, he became a member of the Nationalrat, the Swiss parliament.

Books

Academic:

• Theoristen und Idealisten der Demokratie (Theorists and Idealists of Democracy), Bern, 1868
• Ideen und Ideale schweizerischer Politik (Ideas and Ideals of Swiss Politics), Bern, 1875
• Vorlesungen über die Politik der Eidgenossenschaft (Lectures on the Swiss Political System), Bern, 1879
• Ueber die Wiedereinfuhrung der Todesstrafe (On Capital Punishment), Bern, 1879
• Die Neutralität der Schweiz in ihrer heutigen Auffassung (The Neutrality of Switzerland), Bern, 1889

(translated into French by Mentha, 1889)

• Das Referendum im schweizerischen Staatsrecht (The Referendum in Switzerland), Archiv fur offentliches Recht, 1887
• Der Burenkrieg (The Boer War), Bern, 1900.

Personal:

• Glück (Happiness ), 1891, (translated into Dutch by Eduard Fimmen, 1903) .
• Lesen und Reden (On Reading and Speaking), 1891
• Für schlaflose Nächte (For Sleepless Nights), 1901.