Konrad Hesse

Who was Konrad Hesse?

Konrad Hesse was a German jurisprudence scientist and, from 1975 to 1987, judge at the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.

Hesse was born in Königsberg, East Prussia. He entered the scientific field after his education in law. He obtained his doctorate degree in 1950, and was habilited in 1955 at the Georg-August University of Göttingen. His habilitation covered state, administration and canon laws. His first ordinary was received in 1965 at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg. Additionally, he worked from 1961 to 1975 as a judge at the Supreme Administrative Court in Baden-Württemberg.

As a judge at the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, Hesse was a member of the first senate and coined, in connection with the census judgement in 1983, the term of the right to informational self-determination. To solve the clash of civil rights, he produced the so-called term of practical concordance.

Since 2003 Hesse was a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He died in Merzhausen.