Robert von Mohl (17 August 1799 – 4 November 1875) was a German jurist. He was the father of diplomat Ottmar von Mohl and salonnière Anna von Helmholtz, and brother of Hugo von Mohl, Moritz Mohl and Julius von Mohl.
From 1824 to 1845 he was professor of political sciences at the University of Tübingen, losing his position because of some frank criticisms which brought him under the displeasure of the authorities of Württemberg.
Ottmar von Mohl (17 January 1846 – 23 March 1922) was a German diplomat and government adviser in Meiji period Japan.
Ottmar von Mohl, born in Tübingen, Germany was the son of famous jurist Robert von Mohl. He studied law at the University of Tübingen, passed the first Baden State Examination in 1868 and earned a doctorate in law from the University of Heidelberg the same year. In 1873, he was appointed cabinet secretary of Empress Augusta of Saxe-Weimar.
A police state is a state whose government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little to no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive, and the deployment of internal security and police forces play a heightened role in governance. A police state is a characteristic of authoritarian, totalitarian or illiberal regimes (contrary to a liberal democratic regime). Such governments are not exclusive to simply one-party states or dominant-party states, as they can also arise in a democracy or multi-party system.
Originally, a police state was a state regulated by a civil administration, but since the beginning of the 20th century it has "taken on an emotional and derogatory meaning" by describing an undesirable state of living characterized by the overbearing presence of civil authorities. The inhabitants of a police state may experience restrictions on their mobility, or on their freedom to express or communicate political or other views, which are subject to police monitoring or enforcement. Political control may be exerted by means of a secret police force that operates outside the boundaries normally imposed by a constitutional state. Robert von Mohl, who first introduced the rule of law to German jurisprudence, contrasted the Rechtsstaat ("legal" or "constitutional" state) with the anti-aristocratic Polizeistaat ("police state").