Matko Laginja (born in Klana near Kastav, August 10, 1852 - died in Zagreb, March 18, 1930), was a Croatian lawyer and politician.
He earned a doctorate in law in Graz. In his youth he adopted the political program of Ante Starčević and together with Vjekoslav Spinčić and Matko Mandić brought outstanding types of Croatian national ideas and sharp attacks against Italian nationalism into the political life of Istria. The "Father of Istria" fought for three decades for the region's renaissance, which he continued in Zagreb, particularly as the ban of Croatia. From 1900 to 1915 he was an attorney in Pula; in 1915 he moved his practice to Zagreb.
He was one of the leaders of the Croatian national movement in Istria as well as a member of the Istrian provincial parliament from 1883 to 1914. For one period he was ambassador to the Imperial Council in Vienna, then president of Starčević's Party of Rights. During the upheaval of fall 1918 he was trustee of the National Council in Istria. From February to December 1920 Laginja was ban of Croatia within the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He was dismissed by the cabinet of Milenko Radomar Vesnić on December 11, 1920 after allowing a rally by Croatian Peasant Party politician Stjepan Radić in Zagreb on December 8.
He was selected to the Constitutional Assembly which he resigned on June 1, 1921 along with ten others issuing a statement against centralization and for a federalized country. After this he withdrew from public life.
| Preceded by Tomislav Tomljenović |
Ban of Croatia 1920 |
Succeeded by Teodor Bošnjak |