Ludwig Adamovich deceased

Ludwig K. Adamovich passed away on 16 June 2024 at the age of 91. He was President of the Constitutional Court for 19 years - from 1984 to 2002. 

Ludwig Adamovich's presidency saw many important innovations that still characterise the Court today. The development of a more modern understanding of fundamental rights in case law should be emphasised. The public perception of the Constitutional Court has been significantly strengthened by the organisation of an annual Constitution Day since 1990 and the expansion of the annual reports. Representing the Court abroad, he has considerably promoted the establishment and maintenance of relations with foreign constitutional courts. Particularly noteworthy is that he also started contacts with the constitutional courts of Central and Eastern Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Contacts to which he attached particular importance. After the end of his term of office, Adamovich was for a long time an honorary advisor on constitutional law issues to former Federal President Heinz Fischer as well as to the current Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen.

Ludwig Adamovich was born on 24 August 1932 in Innsbruck as the son of Ludwig Adamovich senior - also an important constitutional expert and President of the Constitutional Court from 1946 to 1955 - and his wife Emma. After completing his law studies in Vienna (doctorate in 1954), he began his career in the administrative service of Lower Austria. He soon moved to the Constitutional Service of the Federal Chancellery (1956 to 1974). After his habilitation in Austrian constitutional law and politics at the University of Vienna, he was appointed full professor of public law at the University of Graz in 1974. He returned to the Constitutional Service in 1976 to head the section until his appointment as President of the Constitutional Court in 1984. From 2013 to 2017, he chaired the Independent Political Parties Transparency Senate.

President Grabenwarter honoured Ludwig Adamovich as a tireless admonisher for the democratic constitutional state: "From Austria's historical experience, the independence of constitutional jurisdiction was a particular concern of his."