Ferdinand Kirchhof (born 21 June 1950) is a German judge,

jurisprudent Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

and

tax law Tax law or revenue law is an area of legal study in which public or sanctioned authorities, such as federal, state and municipal governments (as in the case of the US) use a body of rules and procedures (laws) to assess and collect taxes in a ...

expert.

Early career

Kirchhof was born in

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

. He served as expert member of the Commission on the Reform of the Federal System of Government (Federalism Commission), established by the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...

and the Bundesrat between 2003 and 2004. From 2003 until 2007, he was a member of the Constitutional Court (Staatsgerichtshof) of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

Judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany

Nominated by the Bundesrat on the suggestion of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Kirchhof served as a Justice of the

Federal Constitutional Court of Germany The Federal Constitutional Court (german: link=no, Bundesverfassungsgericht ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its in ...

in the court's First Senate from 1 October 2007, succeeding

Udo Steiner Udo Steiner (born September 16, 1939 in Bayreuth) was a justice of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany from 1995 to 2007. He grew up in Franconia, and went on to study law in Erlangen, Saarbrücken and Cologne. In 1965, he earned a doctor ...

. In March 2009, he was elected vice president of the court. In this capacity, he chaired the First Senate from 2010 until 2018. Notably, Kirchhof presided over the court's 2014 decision according to which the two boards of public broadcaster

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

had to reduce their share of politicians and other people connected to the state. The state governments of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

and

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

had launched a lawsuit after the administrative council, which was dominated by Christian Democrats at the time, decided not to renew the contract of ZDF's former editor-in-chief,

Nikolaus Brender Nikolaus Brender (born 24 January 1949) is a German journalist. He was the commissiong editor of the German public broadcasting station ZDF between 2000 and 2010. Life Brender was born in Freiburg im Breisgau, then French zone of occupation, ...

, against the wishes of ZDF's director general at the time,

Markus Schächter Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobâr ...

Other activities

* Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, Member of the Board of Trustees * Gesellschaft für Rechtspolitik (GfR), Member of the PresidiumPresidium
Gesellschaft für Rechtspolitik. * Association of German Constitutional Law Professors (VDStRL), Member of the Board (2006-2007) * KDStV Hercynia Freiburg im Breisgau, Member (since 1971)

Personal life

Kirchhof is the younger brother of

Paul Kirchhof Paul Kirchhof (born February 21, 1943 in Osnabrück) is a German jurist and tax law expert. He is also a professor of law, member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and, a former judge in the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (' ...

, a former Justice of the

References

External links