Robert Lecourt

Robert Lecourt (19 September 1908 – 9 August 2004) was a French politician and lawyer, judge and the fourth President of the European Court of Justice.

Lecourt was born in Pavilly, Seine-Maritime. He began his career as an Avocat at the Cour d’appel de Paris (Court of Appeal, Paris), during World War II, he was a member of the Underground Management Committee of the movement ‘Résistance’ and member of the National Liberation Movement. After the war, he became a member of the Provisional Consultative Assembly; deputy for Paris (1945–58); deputy for Hautes-Alpes (November 1958); Minister for Justice (on several occasions between 1948 and 1958); Minister responsible for aid and cooperation between France and the Member States of the Community, subsequently for the overseas départements and territories and Sahara (January 1959-August 1961); Member of the Executive Committee of the European Movement. In 1962 he became a judge at the European Court of Justice, and in 1967 its President. Lecourt retired in 1976; and died in 2004 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France.