Hans Smit (August 13, 1927 – January 7, 2012) was the

Stanley H. Fuld Stanley Howells Fuld (August 23, 1903 – July 22, 2003) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He was Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1967 to 1973. Life Born in Manhattan, New York City, Fuld was the son of Eman ...

Professor Emeritus of Law at Columbia Law School.

Biography

Smit was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and earned his LL.B. in 1946 and his J.D. in 1949 from the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

. He worked in private practice in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

before moving to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on a

Fulbright scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

, where he earned a master's degree at Columbia in 1953 and graduated first in his class with an LL.B. from Columbia Law School in 1958. Smit worked for

Sullivan & Cromwell Sullivan & Cromwell LLP is an American multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. Known as a white-shoe firm, Sullivan & Cromwell is recognized as a leader in business law, and is known for its impact on international affairs, such a ...

for two years before joining the Columbia Law School faculty in 1960 as director of the Project on International Procedure. His students included future Supreme Court justice

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by President ...

, who served as a research associate and associate director of the program. He was credited for helping to revise section 1782 of Title 28 of the United States Code. Smit also founded the Columbia-Leiden-Amsterdam Summer Program, which gave law students the opportunity to travel to the Netherlands for one month of intensive training in American law. He was an expert on European and international law and co-edited ''The Law of the European Economic Community'' with Peter E. Herzog''.'' In 1978, Smit was appointed to the Stanley H. Fuld Chair at Columbia Law School. He was a member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

. In 1987, he was made a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion by Queen Beatrix.

Personal life

Smit was the longtime owner of the

Schinasi Mansion The Schinasi House is a , 35-room marble mansion located at 351 Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was built in 1907 for Sephardic Jewish tobacco baron Morris Schinasi. The mansion was designed by Carnegi ...

, the only freestanding single-family mansion in Manhattan. He died on January 7, 2012 at the age of 84. Smit was a water polo player who played for

New York Athletic Club The New York Athletic Club is a private social club and athletic club in New York state. Founded in 1868, the club has approximately 8,600 members and two facilities: the City House, located at 180 Central Park South in Manhattan, and Travers ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smit, Hans 1927 births 2012 deaths Columbia Law School faculty Sullivan & Cromwell people Columbia Law School alumni Lawyers from Amsterdam University of Amsterdam alumni Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Recipients of the Order of the Netherlands Lion