Robert Feenstra: 90th Birthday Symposium

On 12 November, the Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis, arguably the best general journal on legal history, held a symposium to mark the 90th birthday of Professor Emeritus Robert Feenstra. It was hosted by the Faculty of Law at Leiden and held at the Academiegebouw on the Rapenburg.

After an introduction by Professor Zwalve, papers were delivered reflecting facets of Professor Feenstra's scholarship. Professor Emeritus Anne Lefebvre-Teillard (Paris II) talked on delict and Jacques Revigny; Professor Emeritus Klaus Luig (Cologne) on Heineccius as a German in Franeker; Professor Boudewijn Sirks (Oxford) on Bynkershoek; and Professor Laurent Waelkens (Leuven) on the first titles of the Code of Justinian.

Afterwards Professor Feenstra himself delivered a notable address, switching between French, German, English and Dutch, in which he touched on aspects of his career.

There was an agreeable lunch (with kroketten – a Dutch speciality (along with bitterballen) to which your blogger is partial) in the Faculty Club, and later a memorable reception in the Bestuursgebouw (the beautiful former University Library).  It was all excellently organised by Professor Laurens Winkel (Rotterdam) and Dr Marguerite Duynstee (Leiden). Legal historians attended from all over Europe, although your blogger and Professor Sirks were the only individuals from British universities, while there was another British presence in the form of Dr Douglas Osler based in Frankfurt-am-Main.

Professor Feenstra had shortly before been made a Commandeur in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw in which order he was already a Ridder.

See further http://www.law.leidenuniv.nl/nieuws/robert-feenstra-commandeur-nederlandse-leeuw.html