Alfred Verdross

Alfred Verdross
Verdross in 1927
Born	(1890-02-22)22 February 1890 Innsbruck, Austria-Hungary
Died	27 April 1980(1980-04-27) (aged 90) Innsbruck, Austria
Occupation	Professor
Years active	1924–1961
Board member of	International Law Commission (1957–1966) Permanent Court of Arbitration (1958–1977) European Court of Human Rights (1959–1977) President of the Institut de Droit International (1959–1961)
Academic background
Education	University of Vienna
Academic work
Discipline	International law, Philosophy of Law
Institutions	University of Vienna
Notable ideas	Monism in International Law ius cogens

Alfred Verdross or Verdroß or Verdroß-Droßberg (until 1919, Edler von Droßberg; 22 February 1890 – 24 April 1980) was an Austrian international lawyer and judge at the European Court of Human Rights.

After having served as an Austrian foreign ministry official, he became professor of public international law, private international law and philosophy of law at the University of Vienna. He was a pan-German nationalist and an early sympathizer with Nazism, but did not join the Nazi party. Following the German occupation of Austria, he was suspended from his teaching assignments, but from mid-1939 onwards he was allowed to resume the teaching of international law. After the end of World War II he continued his academic career in Vienna and became, among other things, member of the International Law Commission, member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, president of the Institut de Droit International and, from 1959 to 1977, judge at the European Court of Human Rights.

Together with Hans Kelsen, Adolf Merkl [de; pt] and Josef L. Kunz, he was one the main exponents of the Vienna school of legal theory. He was an early proponent and chief theorist of the ius cogens doctrine and of the monist theory of the relationship between international and national law, and is considered one of the most influential international lawyers of the 20th century.