Yoel Zussman also spelled Yoel Sussman ( he, יואל זוסמן, born 24 October 1910, died 2 March 1982) was an Israeli jurist and the fourth President of the Supreme Court of Israel, from 1976 to 1980.

Biography

Sussman was born in 1910 in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

(now in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

). He received his

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

and his PhD from

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, B ...

. He

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

to the

British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to: * Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. * Mandatory P ...

in 1934. He was certified as a lawyer and served as Chief Prosecutor of the Israel Defense Forces. In 1951 he was appointed to the Supreme Court and served as its Deputy President for several periods of time until 1953. In 1965 during the Supreme Court hearings on election appeal case ''Ya'akov Yardor vs Central Election Committee for the Sixth Knesset'', popularly known as El-Ard Petition, Sussman coined definition of Israel as a " self-defending democracy", which was adopted by the Court. Supreme Court upheld ban on El-Ard ( en, The Land), a radical Arab electoral list, from participation in the Sixth Knesset elections and Sussman, taking the Supreme Court of West Germany ruling as a precedent, stated that there are supraconstitutional considerations hailing from

natural law Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...

, that may be superior to any legislation:

Just as an Individual is not bound to agree to being killed, neither is a state is obliged to consent to being annihilated and erased from the map... The German Constitutional Court...spoke of a "fighting democracy", which does not open its doors to acts of sabotage in the guise of legitimate parliamentary activity. For myself, as far as Israel is concerned, I am prepared to confine myself to "self-defending democracy," and tools for defending the existence of the state are at hand, even if we have not found them set forth in detail in the Elections Law

In 1976 he succeeded Shimon Agranat as President of the Supreme Court. He retired in 1980 and was succeeded by

Moshe Landau Moshe Landau ( he, משה לנדוי) (29 April 1912 – 1 May 2011) was an Israeli judge. He was the fifth President of the Supreme Court of Israel. Biography Landau was born in Danzig, Germany (modern Gdańsk, Poland) to Dr. Isaac Landau and ...

. He was an author of several books on bill laws and arbitration laws. He died in 1982.

Awards and honours

* In 1975, Sussman was awarded the Israel Prize, in jurisprudence. * In 1984 the

Institute of Advanced Judicial Studies An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

was established in his memory.http://elyon1.court.gov.il/eng/Institute_of_Advanced_Judicial_Studies_for_2008.doc Institute of Advanced Judicial Studies

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zussman, Yoel 1910 births 1982 deaths Alumni of the University of London Chief justices of the Supreme Court of Israel 20th-century Israeli judges Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Israel Prize in law recipients Burials at Kiryat Shaul Cemetery

Biography

Awards and honours

See also

References