Yitzhak Klinghoffer was born in Galicia in 1905 and acquired doctorate degrees in political science and law from Vienna University. After the Nazis came to power he fled to France, and in 1941 he escaped to Brazil. In 1955 he immigrated to Israel and was invited to teach and engage in research work at the Faculty of Law of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Klinghoffer laid the foundations for administrative law in Israel and served as dean of the Faculty of Law from 1959 to 1961. He specialized in constitutional law, administrative law, international law, and the theory of law. After his retirement from the university, he was among the founders of the Liberal Party, serving as a Member of Knesset for the party in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Knesset. As a parliamentarian he campaigned to promote personal rights and drafted a proposed constitution for Israel. Prof. Klinghoffer also served as legal advisor to the comptroller for the defense system in 1975-1976 and as the first president of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel in the years 1976-1982. He was awarded the Zeltner Prize in 1988. Prof. Klinghoffer passed away in 1990.

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