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 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