On November 20, 1873, the Faculty of Law and State of the University of Vienna awarded an honorary doctorate to Josef von Zhishman.
Zhishman had studied law as well as languages and history at the University of Vienna and obtained a doctorate in philosophy in 1848. In 1867, Emperor Franz Joseph I commissioned Zhishman to teach the then nine-year-old Crown Prince Rudolf. In the same year Zhishman was appointed associate professor for oriental canon law at the Faculty of Law and State of the University of Vienna, where he taught from 1871 to 1887 as a full professor for canon law. Zhishman established a research tradition at the University of Vienna that extends to the present day, served as dean in 1867/77 and was elected rector of the university in 1885/86. Between 1863 and 1894, Zhishman was considered by the government in Vienna to be THE expert in orthodox canon law.
