Willem Zwalve

Willem Jans Zwalve (born 7 September 1949) is a Dutch legal historian.

[1] In his youth he had an interest in studying ancient languages or history, but his father stated: "I don't want to subsidize hobbies".

[3] Zwalve obtained his PhD at the University of Groningen in 1981 with a thesis titled: "Proeve ener theorie der denegatio actionis : een onderzoek naar de positie van de magistraat in het Romeinse burgerlijke procesrecht", a work on Roman civil procedure.

[1] Zwalve was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009.

[4] German jurist Reinhard Zimmermann has described Zwalve's "Hoofdstukken uit de geschiedenis van het Europese privaatrecht" as a pioneering historical and comparative study.

Willem Zwalve, professor emeritus of legal history at Leiden University, presides as pro-rector magnificus over a PhD defence in Leiden University's Academy Building.