Alfred Verdross (1890-1980): Biographical Note with Bibliography

Alfred Verdross was born on 22 February 1890 in Innsbruck, the son of an officer of the Austro-Hungarian Army. He attended the Gymnasium in Rovereto and Brixen (Bressanone) and, from 1908 onwards, studied law at the University of Vienna where on 9 May 1913 he obtained his Doctorate in Law. During World War I, Verdross first served at the Supreme Military Court (k. u. k. Oberster Militärgerichtshof) in Vienna where he rendered opinions on questions of criminal law and criminal procedure. Later, he joined the legal department of the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Office. After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the formation of the new Austrian Republic, Verdross was posted in Berlin from 1918-1920 and then referred to the Legal Department of the Austrian Foreign Office where he worked as a legal adviser until September 1924. In 1921, Verdross obtained his Habilitation at the Vienna Law Faculty, to which he was appointed as außerordentlicher Professor effective from 1 October 1924 and charged with the teaching of public international law, philosophy of law, and conflict of laws. Shortly after, he was offered a position of Ordinarius by the German University in Prague. In order to keep Verdross in Vienna, the Viennese Faculty managed to have him appointed to the rank of Ordinarius - a position which Verdross held for a full 36 years. From 1924, Verdross served as the editor of the `[Österreichische] Zeitschrift für öffentliches Recht'; from 1926-1929 as an alternate member of the Austrian Constitutional Court. In 1927, he taught his first course at the Hague Academy of International Law, followed by the General Course in 1929 and two further specialized courses in 1931 and 1935. In 1928, he was elected an Associé of the Institut de Droit International. From 1931-1933 Verdross was Dean of the Vienna Faculty of Law. In 1932, he was offered a newly-established Chair of international law at the University of Munich. Verdross at first accepted this position, but subsequently decided to stay in Vienna when Adolf Hitler came to power in January of 1933. In the same year, the democratic constitution of Austria was suspended and replaced by a corporatist-authoritarian system. Verdross was offered the Ministry of Justice by the new Dollfuß Government, which he refused. In 1937, he was elected a Corresponding Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. After the occupation of Austria by National Socialist Germany in 1938, Verdross was suspended from his teaching assignments. From mid-1939 onwards, he was allowed to resume the teaching of international law but not legal philosophy. In 1942, Verdross was appointed alternate judge at the German Prize Court of Appeals (Oberprisenhof). Immediately after the liberation of Austria, he resumed fully his teaching activity in Vienna and was reinstated in all his academic functions. He was elected Dean of the Vienna Law Faculty for 1946/47 and Rector of the University of Vienna for 1951/52. In 1950, Verdross became a member both of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and of the Institut de Droit international. In the same year, he was appointed a member of the Swiss-Luxembourg Conciliation Commission, in 1951 a member of the Austrian-Swiss Conciliation, and in 1955 as President of the Belgian-Swedish Conciliation Commission. In 1957, Verdross was nominated to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague; one year later, he was elected to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on which he sat until 1976. In 1957, he was also invited to stand as a candidate for the office of Federal President of Austria, but refused. From 1957 to 1966, Verdross served in the UN International Law Commission. In 1958/59, he was again elected Dean of the Vienna Law Faculty. In 1961, Verdross presided over the Vienna Conference on Diplomatic Relations. From 1959 to 1961, he was President of the Institut de Droit international. From 1969 to 1972, he presided over an arbitration between Austria and the Federal Republic of Germany concerning certain financial consequences of the German occupation of Austria and World War II.

Alfred Verdross died on 27 April 1980 in Innsbruck, the city where he was born.

Essays on Alfred Verdross

- S. Verosta, `Alfred Verdross - Leben und Werk', in Fr. A. Frh. von der Heydte et al. (eds), Völkerrecht und rechtliches Weltbild. Festschrift für Alfred Verdross, Berlin (1960) 1.

- E. Mock, `Die Erschließung der materialen Rechtsphilosophie durch Alfred Verdross', in H. Miehsler et al. (eds), Jus Humanitatis. Festschrift zum 90. Geburtstag von Alfred Verdross, Berlin (1980) 9.

- B. Simma, `Der Beitrag von Alfred Verdross zur Entwicklung der Völkerrechtswissenschaft', in Jus Humanitatis (ibid.) 23.

- H.F. Köck, `Leben und Werk des österreichischen Rechtsgelehrten Alfred Verdross', 42 Österreichische Zeitschrift für öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (1991) 31.

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