He was born in Paris, and educated by his father until 1789, when he went to Göttingen, where he applied himself to the study of law and history under professors Runde, Hugo, Putter, and Spittler.
In 1813, being made member of the commission of legislation, he applied himself to the framing several useful legal reforms, most of which have since been adopted.
In consequence, he wrote a history of the Anhalt Suit, in which he made some very severe reflections on Prussian legislation.
He was, in consequence of this, condemned in 1822, by the authorities at Berlin, to a year's imprisonment; the disgrace of which sentence, although never carried into effect, affected him so deeply as to cause him wholly to retire from society until his death.
Feuerbach and Grollmann, on the Origin of War and its Influence of Civilization, 1788; on the Progress and Decay of the Sciences, 1789; on the Rights and Constitution of the Germanic Diet during the vacancy of the imperial throne, 1792; a philosophical essay on the Penal Laws of the French Republic; the Past, Present, and Future Condition of Germany considered politically.