Justus Möser

Having studied law at the universities of Jena and Göttingen, he settled in his native town as a lawyer and was soon appointed advocatus patriae (state attorney) by his fellow citizens.

For 20 years, he was the legal adviser of the lay Protestant bishop of Osnabrück, Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, a son of George III of the United Kingdom[1] and of his Queen consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Muller (1990) points out that "for Moser the expansion of the market was primarily a threat, ... in tandem, cameralism and capitalism threatened to erode the existing ... institutions which he so valued."

Muller (1990) added more on this point: "New forms of capitalist economic organization ... have led to the disappearance of the link between ownership of property and civic responsibility.

Thus Muller (2002) argues that Möser's views on the economic and political aspects of society contrast sharply with those of his much more renowned contemporary, Adam Smith, and anticipate some of the ideas of the German Historical School and the social market economy.