Albert Paul Blaustein (October 12, 1921 – August 21, 1994) was an American

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

and

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

lawyer and constitutional consultant who helped draft the Fijian and Liberian constitutions, as well as being called in as a consultant for the constitutions of

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

. To a lesser extent, he was involved in the constitutions of

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 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesUganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

and

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. He was the editor of the 20-volume encyclopaedia ''Constitutions of the Countries of the World''.

Biography

Blaustein was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on October 12, 1921, to lawyer Allen Blaustein and Rose Brickman, and often operated under the pseudonym ''Allen DeGraeff''. He graduated at the age of 16 from Boys High School (now

Boys and Girls High School Boys and Girls High School, the oldest public high school in Brooklyn, is a comprehensive high school in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, United States. The school is located at 1700 Fulton Street. As of the 2014–15 school year, the ...

) and then attended the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, where he worked on ''

The Michigan Daily ''The Michigan Daily'' is the weekly student newspaper of the University of Michigan. Its first edition was published on September 29, 1890. The newspaper is financially and editorially independent of the University's administration and other stu ...

'' newspaper, graduating in 1941, at the age of 19. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, where he earned the rank of major. He graduated from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

in 1948, and in the same year he was admitted to the New York State Bar. From 1948 to 1955, he was assistant professor of law at

New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private law school in Tribeca, New York City. NYLS has a full-time day program and a part-time evening program. NYLS's faculty includes 54 full-time and 59 adjunct professors. Notable faculty members include E ...

, as well as, a consultant for the National Trial Lawyers Association before moving to

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

until 1959, when he became law librarian. From 1959 until 1968, Blaustein worked in the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

, the Constitution Associates foreign advisory board and the US Department of Education and the US Commission on Civil Rights from 1962 - 1963. Between 1971 and 1972, he acted as a legal consultant to various African nations and to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

. He worked with the Civil Rights Reviewing Authority, National Committee for American Foreign Policy, New Jersey Division on Civil Rights and also helped found Law day. Blaustein later worked to develop the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n court system and constitution, and in 1966, served as the expert witness on legal aspects of population control for the US Senate. Blaustein served 14 years in the

US Army Reserves The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 2020 ...

retiring with the rank of major, and served from 1942 until 1946 in the

Judge Advocate General's Corps The Judge Advocate General's Corps, also known as JAG or JAG Corps, is the military justice branch or specialty of the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called jud ...

. A resident of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Blaustein died on August 21, 1994, at the age of 72 at

Duke University Hospital Duke University Hospital is a 957-acute care bed academic tertiary care facility located in Durham, North Carolina. Established in 1930, it is the flagship teaching hospital for the Duke University Health System, a network of physicians and hos ...

after he experienced a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

. Perez-Pena, Richard
"Albert Blaustein, Who Drafted Nations' Constitutions, Dies at 72"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', August 22, 1994. Accessed August 9, 2019. "Albert P. Blaustein, a law professor who dedicated nearly three decades of his life to drafting constitutions for nations in transition, died yesterday at Duke University Hospital in Durham, N.C., after suffering a heart attack. He was 72....From his home in Cherry Hill, N.J., Mr. Blaustein, who taught at Rutgers University School of Law in Camden, was frequently summoned by dissident groups as disparate as the Inkatha Freedom Party in South Africa and a coalition of lawyers in Nepal to help them stake out their positions in drafting new constitutions." He has three children, Mark Allen, Eric Barry and Dana Beth and is the Pop-Pop of world famous comedian Michael Blaustein.

Written work

* ''Framing the Modern Constitution: A Checklist'' 1994 * ''Human Rights in the World's Constitutions'' 1993 * ''Discrimination Against Women: A Global Survey of the Economic, Educational, Social and Political Status of Women'' 1990 * ''Constitutions That Made History'' 1988 * ''Resolving Language Conflicts: A Study of the World's Constitution'' 1986 * ''Independence Documents of the World'' 1977 * ''The Arab Oil Weapon'' 1977 * ''Civil Rights and the Black American: A Documentary History'' 1976 * ''Desegregation and the law: The meaning and effect of the school segregation cases'' 1957 * ''The American lawyer: A summary of the "Survey of the legal profession'' 1954Amazon.co
list of published works
retrieved on March 23, 2007

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaustein, Albert Academics of the London School of Economics 1921 births 1994 deaths American civil rights lawyers United States Army personnel of World War II Columbia Law School alumni University of Michigan alumni 20th-century American lawyers Activists from New York City New York Law School faculty People from Cherry Hill, New Jersey United States Army officers Lawyers from Brooklyn Boys High School (Brooklyn) alumni The Michigan Daily alumni Scholars of constitutional law American expatriates in the United Kingdom Military personnel from New Jersey