Emil Hațieganu was a Romanian politician and jurist, a prominent member of the Romanian National Party and of its successor, the National Peasants' Party; he was physician Iuliu Hațieganu's brother. Before his arrest, he was an honorary member of the Romanian Academy.
Born in Tritenii de Jos, Transylvania, Hațieganu studied and practiced Law. He became a professor at the University of Cluj, and served as its rector in 1929–1930. Following World War I and the Aster Revolution in Hungary, he was present with PNR leaders at the Alba Iulia assembly that called for union with Romania, and served on the Directory Council designated by the participants.
A Minister of Labour and Social Security in the Iuliu Maniu cabinets in Bucharest, he was kept in the Gheorghe Mironescu government. Hațieganu also held the office of Minister of State for Transylvania. In 1940, he became noted for his vocal protest against the cession of Northern Transylvania to Hungary.
Retreated from political life during World War II, he returned to the forefront of illegal opposition before the fall of the Ion Antonescu pro-Nazi dictatorship.