Klaus Tolksdorf (born 14 November 1948) is a German legal scholar who served as the eighth President of the Federal Court of Justice of Germany from 2008 to 2014 as well as an

ad litem ''Ad litem'' (Latin: "for the suit") is a term used in law to refer to the appointment by a court of one party to act in a lawsuit on behalf of another party such as a child or an incapacitated adult, who is deemed incapable of representing them ...

judge of the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

Life

Tolksdorf was born in

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher River (a tributary of the Rhine), it lies ...

on 14 November 1948. After getting the

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

in June 1967 he became a police officer in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

until 1970 before he started studying law at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

between 1969 and 1974. After that he had his judicial traineeship, the so-called “''Referendariat''” at the Higher Regional Court of

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

(“''Landgericht''”). It began in 1975 and ended in 1978. Following his second German state exam in law in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

1978 he became a judge in civil and criminal law at the regional court of

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

until 1979. Between 1979 and 1982 he was a lecturer in law at the institute for criminal law of the University of Münster. Afterwards he became a judge in civil law at the regional court of Münster. During 1985 and 1988 he worked at the 6th civil panel of the German Federal Court of Justice and later at the local president office. 1988 he did his doctoral degree and he became a judge at the higher regional court (“''Oberlandesgericht''”) of

Hamm Hamm (, Latin: ''Hammona'') is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northeastern part of the Ruhr area. As of 2016 its population was 179,397. The city is situated between the A1 motorway and A2 motorway. Hamm railwa ...

as well. Then he worked as a research assistant at the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (“''Bundesverfassungsgericht''”) until 1991. Since 1992 he is a judge at the Federal Court of Justice. Initially he was just as a member of the criminal panel (jurisdiction for general criminal law and motoring crimes), since 1994 he was a member of the penal for notary law until 1997 as well, since 1995 he was a member of the grand panel for criminal law until 2005 and finally he was a judge in the office of the president. He is teaching criminal law and criminal procedure law at the faculty of law of the university of Münster since 1994, too. There he became an

honorary professor Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...

in 1999. In 2001 he was appointed as a presiding judge of the 3rd criminal panel of the Federal Court of Justice (jurisdiction for general criminal law and crimes against the state). Since 2004 he is also a German member of the Joint Supervisory Body (JSB) of Eurojust. He became the chairman of the JSB in 2007, too. Furthermore, he was elected as an Ad-Litem-Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2005. From February 2008 to January 2014 he was the president of the German Federal Court of Justice.

References

Website of the German Federal Court of Justice
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tolksdorf, Klaus Jurists from North Rhine-Westphalia Living people 1948 births Academic staff of the University of Münster 20th-century German judges People from Gelsenkirchen 21st-century German judges Judges of the Federal Court of Justice