Mintz Paul (30 June 1868– 28 December 1941) Also known as Shmuel Faivel Mintz.
Paul Mintz was born on 30 June 1868 in Daugavpils, into the family of an entrepreneur involved in railway construction. His father’s name was Yechiel Michl; his mother’s name was Olga (née Friedland). His brother, Vladimir Mintz, later became a professor of medicine.
From 1881 to 1886 he studied at and graduated from the Riga City Gymnasium. In 1890 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University with a gold medal. He continued his education at Heidelberg University in Germany. From 1891 he worked as an assistant to a sworn attorney in Riga. In 1892 he received a master’s degree in criminal law from the University of Tartu (Dorpat). On 21 July 1904 he became a sworn attorney in Riga.
In 1898 he participated in the founding of the Riga branch of the Russian Jewish Society for the Promotion of Education; from 1906 to 1918 he served as its chairman. He was active in the Riga group advocating equal rights for Jews and in the Jewish Constitutional Democratic Party. Until 1914 he was chairman of the council of the Northern Mutual Credit Society. In 1915 he headed the committee for assistance to Jewish refugees expelled from Courland. In 1917–1918 he was a privat-dozent and a member of the committee for the revision of criminal law at Moscow University.
In 1918 he moved with his family to Tartu, where he was a privat-dozent at Tartu University. He later returned to Latvia and worked as a sworn attorney in Riga.
Paul Mintz was a member of the People’s Council from the list of the Jewish National Council. On 19 December 1918 he was appointed senator of the Latvian Senate and served as chairman of the Latvian Jewish Civil Party. At the beginning of 1919 he went to Germany, where he conducted scholarly work at Heidelberg University, returning to Latvia in the summer. From July 1919 to July 1921 he served as State Controller. From December 1920 to June 1921 he was Acting Minister of Labour. In 1919 he was a representative of the Jews in the People’s Council.
He was a member of the Constitutional Assembly from the Jewish National Democratic Party, serving as party chairman and contributor to the party newspaper Narodnaya Mysl (“People’s Thought”). From August 1919 he was a docent at the University of Latvia; from February 1921 he was professor of criminal law and criminal procedure. From July 1938 (after reaching the maximum age) he was an adjunct professor, and in August 1939 he retired.
From April 1921 to 1927 he was a member of the commission of the Ministry of Justice for drafting penal legislation; in 1923 he chaired this commission and led several others involved in drafting laws. From 28 September 1921 he again practiced as a sworn attorney in Riga. He was chairman of the Latvian Society of Criminal Law, a board member of the International Association of Criminal Law, and chairman of various local charitable societies.
In 1928 Paul Mintz ran as a candidate in the elections to the 3rd Saeima on the list of the Jewish Democratic Bloc (the Jewish National Democratic Party and the Jewish Economic Democratic Association) but was not elected. In 1931 he ran for the 4th Saeima on the list of the Jewish Progressive Union (which he co-founded) and was not elected. From 1935 he was a member of the Council of Sworn Attorneys.
He served as chairman of the Riga Jewish National Council; chairman of the Jewish Lawyers’ Society; chairman of the Society for the Promotion of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Latvia; chairman of the Society of Friends of the People’s Union; member of the board of the Academic Society of the University of Latvia; secretary of the “Palestine League in Latvia”; chairman of the audit commission of the Zionist organization Keren Hayesod; and co-founder of the Jewish organization “Emigdirect” and the Ezra Gymnasium. He was also a board member of the Riga German Lawyers’ Society, a member of the Russian Legal Society (from 1929), a member of the editorial board of the journal Law and the Court, and a contributor to the Bulletin of the Ministry of Justice. He taught at the Herder Institute (1924–1925), at courses of the Scientific Institute of the Russian University in Riga, and lectured in military jurisprudence. He was a legal scholar of European renown.
In January 1939 he was appointed a member of the Chamber of Professions.
During the Soviet occupation, on 14 June 1941, he was arrested in Riga and died on 28 December 1941 while imprisoned in the Krasnoyarsk labor camp.
A lecture hall at the Buchmann Faculty of Law of Tel Aviv University (Israel) is named in his honor.
Awards:
– Order of the Three Stars of Latvia, 2nd and 3rd classes
– Latvian Commemorative Badge of the War of Liberation of Latvia (1918–1920)
– Hungarian order, 2nd class
He married Harrietta Feitelberg (born 27 November 1881), who died in exile between 1941 and 1956. Their sons were Mikhail Edgar Mintz (later a sworn attorney) and Maurikiy (Moritz) Mintz (later a sworn attorney). Their daughters were Helga Frida (born 18 September 1907) and Edith (born 28 November 1913), who emigrated to Israel.
Paul Mintz was an Honoured philister of Jewish student corporation Vetulia.
Works:
Die Lehre von der Beihilfe. – 1892.
The English system of compulsory education (Английская система принудительного воспитания). – 1896.
Arbitration agreements and arbitration courts (Третейская сделка и Третейский суд). – 1917.
Extraordinare Strafjustiz. – 1918.
Course in Criminal Law (Курс уголовного права). – Vol. 1-2. – Riga, 1925, 1928.
Rassegna complete de legislazione Lettone. Anni 1918-1928. – Рим, 1930.
1933. gada 24. aprīļa sodu likums ar likumdošanas motīviem un sīkiem komentāriem, kā arī alfabētisko un citiem rādītājiem. – Riga, 1934 (compiler, with J. Lauvs).
Krimināltiesību kurss. – Рига, 1934.
Ressegna di legislazione Lettone (Anno 1931). – Rome, 1934 (with R. Freimanis.
Apercu du systeme penientiaire de la Lettonie. Klabore dapres le cadre penale et penitentiaire. – 1935.
Sodu likums: ar komentāriem – izvilkumiem no Senāta Kriminālā kasācijas departamenta spriedumiem un salīdzināmiem rādītājiem. – Рига, 1938 (сосоставитель).
Code penal letton: du 24 avril 1933: entre en vigueur le 1er Aout 1933 et modifie en 1934, 1935, 1936 et 1937. – Paris, 1938.
Krimināltiesības. Sevišķa daļa. – Riga, 1939.
Krimināltiesību kurss. – Riga, 2005.