Sir Guenter Heinz Treitel (26 October 1928 – 14 June 2019
) was a
German-born English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
academic and
Vinerian Professor of English Law
The Vinerian Professorship of English Law, formerly Vinerian Professorship of Common Law, was established by Charles Viner who by his will, dated 29 December 1755, left about £12,000 to the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of O ...
.
Treitel was born in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
into a Jewish family, the son of a prominent lawyer, Theodor Treitel, and his wife, Hannah Lilly Levy.
In March 1939, he came to England on the ''
Kindertransport
The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children (but not their parents) from Nazi-controlled territory that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World ...
'' together with his older brother, Kurt Max Treitel, and sister Celia. Treitel was once described by
Lord Steyn
Johan van Zyl Steyn, Baron Steyn, PC (15 August 1932 – 28 November 2017) was a South African-British judge, until September 2005 a Law Lord. He sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.
Early life and education
Steyn was born in Stellen ...
as "one of the most distinguished academic writers on the
law of contract
A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...
in the English speaking world", and has often been described as the leading authority on
English contract law. He is the author of ''Treitel on the Law of Contract'',
a seminal work on English contract law.
Treitel retired as Vinerian Professor in 1997 and received a
knighthood
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...
for services to law. Treitel had been a Fellow of
All Souls College
All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...
since 1979; he was previously a Fellow of
Magdalen College
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...
from 1954 to 1979.
Footnotes
Knights Bachelor
Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford
Fellows of the British Academy
Kindertransport refugees
Lawyers awarded knighthoods
English legal scholars
English barristers
2019 deaths
1928 births
People educated at Kilburn Grammar School
Vinerian Professors of English Law
Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom
20th-century English lawyers
{{UK-law-bio-stub