From the Cell to the Courtroom: The Extraordinary Career of European Jurist Walter Much

Sitting in his cold and damp cell in a prisoner of war camp outside Le Mans in 1946, Walter Much met Joseph Rovan, a high official of the French government, who changed Much’s life.  Much was soon sent to Paris to participate in an institute for legally trained German POWs charged with re-imagining Germany’s role in the post-war world.  He was part of the German negotiating team for the Treaty of Paris and got a position in the Legal Service of the High Authority/Commission.  From there, Much’s career took him to the highest rank in the Legal Service – Director General – before he died in office in 1975.  While new historical research has pointed to the importance of the Legal Service in pushing for a constitutional reading of the treaties in the formative years of the European legal system, little to nothing is reported on the life, views, and influence of one of its longest serving and most important members.  Indeed, Much opposed the most important rulings of the ECJ and as head of the Legal Service in the 1970s was able to push back against the larger ambitions of the Court.  This presentation will tell this story using a combination of official and personal archival material, academic writings and recollections of family and Legal Service members.