After attending
Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium, Moser studied state journalism at the
University of Tübingen. His additional efforts at and success in independent learning enabled him to gain an appointment as professor of law at the same university at the early age of 18 or 19 years. In 1721 Moser married Friederike Rosine Vischer, daughter of a Württembergian Upper Council President. Their oldest son,
Friedrich Karl von Moser, was born on 18 December 1723 in Stuttgart, and became a jurist, political writer and a statesman. From 1721 to 1726 he worked in Vienna. In 1724 he became an adviser to the state vice-chancellor Count Schönborn. Moser was not able to pursue a career in the imperial service, because he refused to convert to Catholicism. Soon afterwards he entered the civil service of the
Holy Roman Empire, and was appointed as a "state adviser" in the Imperial Court. In 1726 Moser returned to Stuttgart as a government advisor. In 1727 he was appointed professor at the Tübingen Collegium. The work brought him into conflict with the government's censors, and he quit both his job as professor and his job as government advisor in 1732. He later held a long series of administrative appointments, giving him a thorough knowledge of political and constitutional issues. In 1736 he was called to head the Faculty of Law at the
University of Frankfurt (Oder), but had to leave after three years due to his thoroughly Liberal ideas which were disliked by King
Frederick William I of Prussia. Between 1739 and 1751, he had various jobs. He spent the years 1739 to 1747 at
Ebersdorf, mainly concerned with completing the monumental 53 volumes of his
Deutsches Staatsrecht ("German Constitutional Law"), a pioneering research analysing the named subject matter more systematically than ever done before, and based on a through study of the sources. In 1751 Moser became a consultant on land reform to the
Charles Eugene, Duke of Württemberg. He came into conflict with the Duke by opposing the Duke's
absolutist tendencies. In July 1759 he was arrested and imprisoned without judicial procedure in solitary confinement in the fortress
Hohentwiel, on the charge of authoring subversive writings. He completed his five-year detention with his mental and physical health and his faith in God unbroken. In order to meet his desire to write, without writing materials, he wrote religious songs on the walls with soot from the fireplace on the walls. In 1764, aged 63, he was released, due in part to the intercession of
Friedrich the Great of Prussia (son of the king who had hounded Moser in 1739). He was rehabilitated and restored to his position, rank and titles. He retired on 16 July 1770 aged 69. During the next 15 years, he wrote many books. Over his entire life he wrote 500-600 books. This prolific output led sometimes to careless representations of the facts in his works. ==Legacy==