"With his tireless and intelligent commitment, he not only shaped public law both at the School of Law and in Lower Saxony, but also our university as a whole for decades. Jörn Ipsen remained associated with Osnabrück University even after his retirement and was a valued advisor. Our condolences go out to his family," said University President Prof. Dr. Susanne Menzel-Riedl.
Jörn Ipsen, born in 1944, was a full professor at Osnabrück University until his retirement in 2012 and Director of the former Institute for Municipal Law since its foundation in 1989. From 2007 to 2013, he served as President of the Lower Saxony State Court.
Ipsen studied law at the Universities of Munich and Göttingen and, after passing his first state examination in 1970, worked on a dissertation entitled "Richterrecht und Verfassung" (Judges' Law and the Constitution), which earned him a doctorate from the Faculty of Law at the University of Göttingen in 1974. After his legal clerkship, he became a research assistant at the University of Göttingen, where he habilitated in 1980 in the subjects "Public Law and Legal Methodology".
After holding professorships in Tübingen and Göttingen, Ipsen accepted a professorship in public law at Osnabrück University in 1981. From 1990 to 1992, he was a member of the development commission of the Faculty of Law at the University of Greifswald, and in 1991 he became a member of the evaluation commission of the University of Jena. In his research, the renowned legal scholar devoted himself primarily to constitutional and administrative law and constitutional history.
"We owe Prof. Ipsen an immeasurable amount," said the Dean of the schools, Prof. Dr. Steffen Lampert, "the scholar of constitutional and administrative law, the constitutional historian, the founder of the former Institute for Municipal Law, the President of the Lower Saxony State Court, the teacher of public law who shaped generations of students, the person who was committed to the school and the university as Dean and member of the Senate." Prof. Dr. Pascale Cancik, Professor Ipsen's colleague and successor at the Institute, added: "We have lost an upright North German colleague and intelligent companion, who was contentious in the best sense of the word. We will miss his prudence, his care and his humor."
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