He studied jurisprudence at the Universities of Cologne, Bonn, Heidelberg, Innsbruck, Bern, and Basel, as well as psychology at the University of Basel. He took the First State Law Examination at the Higher Regional Court in Cologne in 1956 and the Second State Law Examination at the State Examination Office for Legal Professions in Düsseldorf in 1960. He took the licentiate examination (lic.iur.utr.) at the University of Basel and received his doctorate as a doctor iuris utriusque in 1965 under Karl Spiro in Basel.