Carl Jacob Arnholm

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Carl Jacob Arnholm (18 December 1899 – 15 September 1976) was a Norwegian jurist and professor of law at the University of Oslo.

He was born in Oslo to civil servant Carsten Johannes Andersen and Gunvor Henriksen. He finished secondary school in 1917 and earned the cand.jur. degree in 1921. After working as a deputy judge for a year, he became a junior solicitor in 1923. From 1927 he was allowed to handle Supreme Court cases. In 1930 he became a research fellow at the Royal Frederick University (the University of Oslo) and earned his dr.juris degree in 1931 with a thesis on the validity of testamentary provisions under Norwegian law. He served as a professor from 1933 to 1968 and was dean of the Faculty of Law from 1945 to 1951, while also acting as deputy chairman of the university board.

During the German occupation of Norway, Arnholm was imprisoned after protesting Nazi changes to university admission rules in 1943. He and other staff and students were arrested and held at Grini concentration camp, after earlier detention at Bredtveit and Berg. He was held until May 1945 and became a Christian during his time as a prisoner.

After the war, Arnholm continued his work in law. He also served as a judicial advisor to the Norwegian Brewers (1933–1968) and was Acting Supreme Court Justice in several periods between 1935 and 1939. He was elected to the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 1936. He received honorary degrees from Stockholm College (1957) and the University of Copenhagen (1959). In 1961 he was made a Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, and he was also a Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog and of the Order of the Polar Star. He died in Oslo in 1976.