BERLIN, LEO:

By: Herman Rosenthal

Russian lawyer; son of Moses Berlin; born at Vitebsk Nov. 22, 1854; received his education (1862-72) at a private school in St. Petersburg. He studied law at the University of Bern, Switzerland, whence he was graduated in 1878. In 1881 Berlin received the degree of doctor of criminal law from the University of Moscow. Soon afterward he became engaged to Amalie Hering, M.D., daughter of the physiologist Ewald Hering, who, on account of her (Roman Catholic) religion, was refused a license by the Russian government to marry a Jew. She accordingly joined the Protestant Church; but even then it required the intervention of the poet Turgenef to secure the requisite permission. Berlin is (1902) the head of the law firm of Berlin Brothers in St. Petersburg, but resides in Brussels. He has published many treatises on criminal law in the "Zhurnal Grazhdanskavo i Ugolovnavo Prava" and other periodicals. A rare Torah scroll, which has been in the Berlin family for centuries, is now in his possession.

H. R.