Adrianus van Kleffens (14 October 1899 – 2 Augustus 1973) was a Dutch civil servant and judge. He was a judge at the European Court of Justice from 1952 to 1958.

Biography

Van Kleffens was born to Henricus Cato Van Kleffens and Anna de Graaf in a family of civil servants in

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

. His older brother was

Eelco van Kleffens Eelco Nicolaas van Kleffens (17 November 1894 – 17 June 1983) was a Dutch politician and diplomat. Biography Eelco van Kleffens descended from an old Frisian family of public servants. He was the son of Henricus Cato and Jeannette Frésine ...

, who would later become a noted diplomat and Minister for Foreign Affairs. Adrianus van Kleffens studied law at Leiden University. After his studies he then went to work at the Secretariat of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

in Geneva. He later became a judge at the Court of Amsterdam. In 1934 he attained a position as director of the External Trade department of the Dutch Ministry for Economic Affairs. During World War II he was captured and made prisoner of war. After the war had ended in 1945 he went to work at the same Ministry once more, he focused on European economic integration. During that time he also advocated the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico- economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: ...

union. After his time at the Ministry he became one of the first judges of the European Court of Justice, he served together with fellow Dutchman Jos Serrarens.

Memberships

* Member of the International Maritime Commission

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kleffens, Adrianus van 1899 births 1973 deaths People from Heerenveen 20th-century Dutch judges Dutch civil servants Leiden University alumni European Court of Justice judges Dutch judges of international courts and tribunals