Joan Melchior Kemper (26 April 1776 – 20 July 1824) was a Dutch jurist and politician. After studies in Amsterdam and

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

he taught civil law in Amsterdam beginning in 1806, and natural, public and international law in Leiden beginning in 1809. A student of Cras, he was a prominent advocate of

natural law Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...

in the tradition of the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

. After the French withdrawal from the Netherlands in 1813, Kemper was one of the leading figures in the establishment of the new

United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; french: Royaume uni des Pays-Bas) is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed between 1815 and 1839. The United Netherlands was cr ...

. He advised

Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp Gijsbert Karel, Count van Hogendorp (27 October 1762 – 5 August 1834) was a liberal conservativeJan de Jongste: ''Van Hogendorp'', article in th''Cultureel Woordenboek. Nederlandse geschiedenis 1500 – 1813'' "Van Hogendorp werd 'van conserva ...

, together with Elias Canneman and

Anton Reinhard Falck Anton Reinhard Falck (19 March 1777 in Utrecht16 March 1843 in Brussels) was a Dutch statesman. He studied at the University of Leiden, and entered the Dutch diplomat service, being appointed to the legation at Madrid, Spain. Under King Louis Na ...

, to maintain the governance organization the French had created in the Netherlands.,
Joan Melchior Kemper, oud-patriotse wegbereider van de constitutionele monarchie
, in: ''Mededelingen van de Stichting Jacob Campo Weyerman.'' Jaargang 41 (2018), 128. He drafted various proclamations, including

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...

's proclamation of sovereignty, and helped write the constitution. In 1817 he was elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, the lower chamber of the

States General The word States-General, or Estates-General, may refer to: Currently in use * Estates-General on the Situation and Future of the French Language in Quebec, the name of a commission set up by the government of Quebec on June 29, 2000 * States Genera ...

. He led the commission that drafted a Dutch Civil Code, which was however rejected in parliament in favor of the established Napoleonic Code.

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1776 births 1824 deaths Dutch jurists Politicians from Amsterdam {{Netherlands-law-bio-stub