Jutta Limbach

Jutta Limbach (27 March 1934 – 10 September 2016) was a German jurist and politician. She was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and served as President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany from 1994 to 2002, the first woman in this office.

Early life and education

Born as Jutta Ryneck, Limbach grew up in Berlin. Her grandmother Elfriede Ryneck was a member of the Weimar National Assembly and the Reichstag, and her father Ernst Ryneck served as mayor of Pankow after 1945. Her great-grandmother Pauline Staegemann lead the Prussian women's organisations Berlin Workers' Wives' and Girls' Association and the Association for the Protection of Female Workers' Interests.

Limbach studied law in Berlin and Freiburg. She passed the first and the second state law examination in 1958 and 1962. From 1963 to 1966 she worked as a research assistant at the law school of the Free University of Berlin and received her doctorate in law in 1966, with a thesis in legal sociology.

Career

Limbach fulfilled the requirements to be appointed professor by the German educational system in 1971. In 1972, she was appointed professor for civil law, commercial law and legal sociology at the Free University. From 1987 to 1989, she was member of an academic advisory council at the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

Under Walter Momper as mayor, Limbach was the senator for Justice in Berlin from 1989 to 1994. During her time in office, German prosecutors issued a warrant for the arrest of Erich Honecker after discovering written orders by the former East German leader for guards at the Berlin wall to shoot to kill people who were seeking to flee the country.