Rudolf Ritter von Scherer (11 August 1845, Graz – 21 December 1918, Vienna) was an Austrian religious law professor.

He received his doctorate in law in 1867 at the University of Graz and was considered a disciple of Friedrich Maassen, who influenced him in the application of the historical method.

After three years in pastoral ministry, he was sent to the higher education institution for secular priests the Frintaneum in Vienna, where he received his second doctorate in 1875, this time in theology.

Scherer's major work, the textbook of religious law, Handbuch des Kirchenrechtes, garnered high praise.

[2] His creativity decreased after 1911 because of various physical ailments and also because of being distracted by the discord around the Oath Against Modernism.