After a distinguished career at school and college, he adopted the law as his profession, and in 1837 married the highly gifted but eccentric Augusta Marie, daughter of the philologist Peter Oluf Brøndsted.

Sent to the Den Grundlovgivende Rigsforsamling of 1848 as member for the first district of Copenhagen, a constituency he continued to represent in the Folketing till 1881, he immediately took his place in the front rank of Danish politicians.

[1] From the first he displayed rare ability as a debater, his inspiring and yet amiable personality attracted hosts of admirers, while his extraordinary tact and temper disarmed opposition and enabled him to mediate between extremes without ever sacrificing principles.

[1] Hall's programme, den Konstitutionelle Helstat, i.e. a single state with a common constitution, was difficult enough in a monarchy which included two nationalities, one of which, to a great extent, belonged to a foreign and hostile jurisdiction.

Here it need only be said that Hall himself soon became aware of the impossibility of the Helstat, and his whole policy aimed at making its absurdity patent to Europe, and substituting for it a constitutional Denmark to the Eider which would be in a position to come to terms with an independent Holstein.

[1] After 1864 Hall bore more than his fair share of the odium and condemnation which weighed so heavily upon the national Liberal party, making no attempt to repudiate responsibility and refraining altogether from attacking patently unscrupulous opponents.

But his personal popularity suffered not the slightest diminution, while his clear, almost intuitive, outlook and his unconquerable faith in the future of his country made him, during those difficult years, a factor of incalculable importance in the public life of Denmark.