| Hans-Jürgen Papier | |
| Office: | 8th President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany |
| Term Start: | 10 April 2002 |
| Term End: | 16 March 2010 |
| Predecessor: | Jutta Limbach |
| Successor: | Andreas Voßkuhle |
| Office2: | 10th Vice-president of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany |
| Term Start2: | 27 February 1998 |
| Term End2: | 10 April 2002 |
| Predecessor2: | Otto Seidl |
| Successor2: | Winfried Hassemer |
| Birth Date: | 6 July 1943 |
| Birth Place: | Berlin, Germany |
| Nationality: | German |
| Alma Mater: | Free University of Berlin |
Hans-Jürgen Papier (pronounced as /de/; born 6 July 1943 in Berlin) is a German scholar of constitutional law who served as president of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany from 2002 to 2010.
Three years after graduating from law school in 1967 with the first law state examination, Papier completed his Ph.D. studies at the Freie Universität Berlin. In 1971 he received the second law state examination. In 1973 he received his Habilitation on the basis of a second dissertation on questions concerning German constitutional law.
From 1974 onward Papier received tenure at the Universität Bielefeld and taught constitutional law. In 1992 he moved to Munich to teach German and Bavarian constitutional and administrative law as well as Public Social law at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität.
In 1998 Papier, a member of the conservative CSU party, became Vice President and Chair of the First Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. When President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany Jutta Limbach retired from her position in 2002, Papier succeeded her.[1]
Papier has often made public comments on questions of constitutional law, but has generally avoided commenting on other political questions. He made an exception to this rule after the elections of 2005 when he implored the parties to work hard not to lose the trust of the German electorate.
From 2014 to 2016, Papier was part of an advisory board on internal reforms at Europe's largest automobile association ADAC.[2] [3] From 2014 to 2023, he served as ombudsperson at German private credit bureau Schufa.[4]
From 2017, Papier headed the so-called Limbach Commission (Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property), a panel convened by the German government to give recommendations on restitution claims regarding art works stolen or purchased under duress by the Nazis.[5] [6]