MEIJERS, EDUARD MAURITS

(1880–1954)

Jurist. After finishing his study of law at Amsterdam University, Meijers worked as a lawyer. In 1910, he was appointed professor of Dutch civil law and international private law at Leiden University. He published exten sively on labor relations, but also was an internationally recognized historian of law. In the 1920s, he discovered the voluminous manu script notes of the 18th-century president of the Court of Holland, the famous jurist Cornelis van Bijnkershoek, and his son-in-law Willem Pauw (1712–1787). Meijers was one of the founders of the Dutch Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis (1918) and the South African Tydskrif vir Hedendaagse Romeins-Hollandse Reg (1937). Because of his Jewishorigin, Meijers was deported to Theresienstadt by the Germans during World War II. In 1947, the Dutch govern ment entrusted him with the task of drafting a new civil code. His colleague Jan Drion (1915–1964), the vice president of the High Court Frederik Johan (“Frits”) de Jong (1901– 1974), and the solic itor general of the High Court Jannes Eggens (1891–1964) continued this task. Meijers’s studies are collected in his Verzamelde privaa trechtlijke opstellen(3 vols., 1954–1955) and his Etudes d’histoire du droit (4 vols., 1956–1966). Part of his extensive library is kept at Leiden University.