REITLINGER, FREDERICK:
French jurist; born at Ichenhausen, Bavaria, June 18, 1836. He attended the Saint Anna College at Augsburg. After having pursued Talmudical studies under Abraham Geiger at Breslau, he studied law at the universities of Munich and Heidelberg, where he obtained his degrees. For several years Reitlinger pleaded in criminal cases, and acquired great renown in Germany.
In 1866 he went to Paris, and, having obtained an audience with the French emperor, Napoleon III., was requested by him to write a book upon cooperative societies. The book was published the same year under the title "Les Sociétés Coopératives en Allemagne et le Projet do Loi Français"; and on account of that work Napoleon granted Reitlinger what is called the "grande naturalisation," which may be obtained, after one year's residence, in consideration of some important services rendered to France. Reitlinger established himself as an attorney in Paris in 1867, and soon became celebrated for his remarkable ability. He was chosen by Jules Favre to be one of his secretaries; and he stood in high esteem with President Grévy. During the Franco-Prussian war (1870-71) the Government of National Defense sent Reitlinger as special delegate to England and Austria; and to carry out this mission he had to escape from Paris in a balloon. He wrote a picturesque narrative of his voyage in a book entitled "Une Mission Diplomatique en Octobre, 1870" (Paris, 1899).
Reitlinger was the first to make known in France Schulze-Delitzsch's system of self-help; and his abovecited book upon cooperative societies is still authoritative on that subject. Reitlinger is an officer of the Legion of Honor.
