Kurt Ringhofer

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Kurt Ringhofer (born August 2, 1926 in Vienna , † August 14, 1993 in Nöstach , Altenmarkt an der Triesting ) was an Austrian lawyer , university professor and constitutional judge . Ringhofer worked from 1968 to 1992 as a full professor for general political theory as well as constitutional and administrative law at the University of Salzburg . In addition, he was a member of the Austrian Constitutional Court from 1969 and its vice-president from 1976.

Professional background

Kurt Ringhofer was born in simple circumstances on August 2, 1926 in the Austrian capital Vienna. After attending elementary and secondary schools, Kurt Ringhofer was first drafted into the Reich Labor Service and then for military service in the Wehrmacht during the Nazi era . As a soldier in World War II , Ringhofer was seriously wounded in 1945, shortly before the end of the war, and lost his right arm in the process. At the end of 1945 he was released from captivity and began studying law at the Law Faculty of the University of Vienna . He completed this course within a very short time and was awarded his doctorate in law ( Dr.iur. ) On November 16, 1949 . At the beginning of 1949, Ringhofer was employed as an administrative clerk at the Vienna City Administration . In 1956 he switched to the Federal Ministry of the Interior , where he was finally promoted to head of the legal department on December 1, 1960.

In 1966 habilitated Kurt Ringhofer with a postdoctoral thesis on the subject of structural problems of law at the University of Graz , in 1968 followed the call to the chair of General Administrative and Constitutional and Administrative Law at the University of Salzburg , which Ringhofer was a full professor. He remained active in research and teaching at the University of Salzburg until his retirement in 1992. On February 11, 1969, Kurt Ringhofer was appointed a substitute member of the Constitutional Court by Federal President Franz Jonas, initially on the proposal of the Federal Government . After Leopold Werner was appointed Vice President of the Constitutional Court on October 1, 1969, Ringhofer was again appointed a full member of the Constitutional Court in the same year, on December 15, 1969, at the suggestion of the Federal Government (effective January 1, 1970). As such, from 1972 to 1976 he was also a regularly elected permanent advisor to the judges' college. On March 10, 1976, he succeeded Leopold Werner, who had now resigned, when he was appointed Vice-President of the Constitutional Court, which he remained until his death.

In addition to his professional activity as a university professor and constitutional judge, Kurt Ringhofer was one of the most prominent representatives of the pure legal theory . As such, he and Robert Walter initiated the establishment of the Federal Hans Kelsen Institute on the occasion of Hans Kelsen's 90th birthday , of which he also became managing director together with Walter. As such, he was responsible in particular for numerous publications by the Hans Kelsen Institute. In 1977, Kurt Ringhofer became particularly well-known in legal circles as the author and editor of the constitutional commentary "The Austrian Federal Constitution" , in which he commented on the B-VG exclusively from his point of view and refrained from entering into divergent opinions in literature and judicature.

Independent publications

Kurt Ringhofer's independent publications are reproduced below. In particular, this does not include journal articles, book reviews and his extensive editorial work. This list therefore only includes those publications in which Ringhofer appeared alone or together with others as the author of a monograph .

literature

Web links

  • Robert Walter, Clemens Jabloner: memorial. In: Website of the Hans Kelsen Institute . 1995, accessed on July 5, 2017 (= introduction from structural problems of public law , series of publications by the institute, volume 19).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert Walter : Kurt Ringhofer in memory . In: Legal papers . No. 10/1993 , 1993, p. 647 .
  2. ↑ a b Kurt Heller : The Constitutional Court. The development of constitutional jurisdiction in Austria from the beginning to the present . Verlag Österreich , Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-7046-5495-3 , chapter short biographies of the members and substitute members of the Constitutional Court 1945-2010 , p. 648 .
  3. ^ Ludwig Adamovich : Kurt Ringhofer as constitutional judge . In: Robert Walter, Clemens Jabloner (ed.): Structural problems of public law. Commemorative publication for Kurt Ringhofer (=  series of the Hans Kelsen Institute . Volume 19 ). Manz'sche publishing and university bookstore , Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-214-06519-X , p. 11-19 .
  4. ↑ Gerhart Holzinger : Can a constitution be understandable - Kurt Ringhofer's performance as a commentator on the B-VG . In: Robert Walter, Clemens Jabloner (ed.): Structural problems of public law. Commemorative publication for Kurt Ringhofer (=  series of the Hans Kelsen Institute . Volume 19 ). Manz'sche publishing and university bookstore , Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-214-06519-X , p. 21-33 .
  5. ↑ Robert Walter, Clemens Jabloner (Ed.): Structural problems of public law. Commemorative publication for Kurt Ringhofer (=  series of the Hans Kelsen Institute . Volume 19 ). Manz'sche Verlags- und Universitätsbuchhandlung , Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-214-06519-X (bibliography by Kurt Ringhofer on pp. 233-237).


personal data
SURNAME Ringhofer, Kurt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian lawyer and university professor, Vice-President of the Constitutional Court
DATE OF BIRTH August 2, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH August 14, 1993
Place of death Nöstach , Altenmarkt an der Triesting