Justice Alfons Klafkowski was born on 2 July 1912 in Poznań and died on 10 July 1992.

He graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Poznań [UAM] in 1935, where he started work in 1945 and earned his juris doctor degree. He was awarded the title of professor in 1956 and became full professor in 1962. The Mikołaj Kopernik University [UMK] in Toruń awarded him a honorary doctor degree (doctor honoris causa) in 1973.

He headed the Chair of International Law and was director of the Institute of Legal and Political Sciences, a deputy dean and dean of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the UAM. He was also twice elected rector of that university in 1956-1962.

A co-founder of the Institute for Western Affairs [Instytut Zachodni] in Poznań, he was also a member of the Polish Institute of International Affairs in Warsaw and the Chief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation, a delegate of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Committee on Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He was a Deputy to the 6th and 7th Sejm of the Polish People's Republic. In 1982-1985 he was a member of the Council of State.

He was an author of more than 300 publications in the field of international law.

Alfons Klafkowski was a Justice and President of the Constitutional Tribunal from 1985 to 1989.