He is a former judge at the European Court of Human Rights (appointed in 1986) and a member of the Belgian Senate (1980–1986).
[1] He became a doctor of laws at the University of Louvain in 1942, and started practising as a barrister in Mechelen from 1944.
He became a lecturer at the University of Louvain in 1951 and was professor of law from 1956 to 1986.
He also served as Belgian member of the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on Human Rights from 1967 to 1973, and as Belgian Government agent at the European Commission of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights from 1967 to 1972.
He was a lecturer at the College of Europe in Bruges from 1958 to 1970.