From Vichy to Luxembourg: the little-known story of Maurice Lagrange, a founder of European law

This article is the first attempt to examine the singular career of Maurice Lagrange in its entirety. As the European Court of Justice’s first French Advocate General, from 1952 to 1964, he was one of the founders of European law. He was a pure product of the French Council of State, which he joined in 1924. He served the Vichy regime as an official in the office of the Vice-President of the Council from 1940 to 1942, where he was responsible for implementing the Law on the Status of Jews and drew up the ill-fated first statute of the French civil service in 1941. From 1952 to 1955, he was involved in drafting the European civil service statute in Luxembourg. Lagrange contributed to two ‘legal revolutions’. How can his continued influence be explained? Aside from his spectacular change of role, from ‘administrativist’ to ‘communitarian’, are there any elements of doctrinal continuity?