Leopold Henrik Stanislaus Mechelin

(Leo Mechelin). Born Nov. 24, 1839, in Frederikshamn (now Hamina); died Jan. 26, 1914, in Helsinki. Finnish political and state figure. Of Swedish descent.

Mechelin was a professor of law and economics at the University of Helsinki from 1874 to 1882. He was a member of the Diet in 1872, 1877–78, 1882, 1885, and 1899–1904. From 1882 to 1890 he was a member of the Senate (government) of the Grand Duchy of Finland, in charge of finance, trade, and industry. From 1893 to 1903 he was director and chairman of the board of a bank in Helsinki.

In the late 1890’s, Mechelin became a leader of the liberal bourgeois movement, which opposed Russian tsarist policies with passive resistance. In December 1905, Tsar Nicholas II appointed him vice-president of the Finnish Senate, which consisted entirely of representatives of the liberal wing of the Finnish bourgeoisie. In 1908 he resigned, and from 1910 to 1913 he was a member of the Diet from what was called the Party of Finnish Constitutionalists (founded in 1902). Mechelin was the author of numerous works on the history of Finnish state law and on the legal status of Finland within the Russian empire.