Willem Johannes Witteveen (; 5 May 195217 July 2014) was a Dutch legal scholar, politician, and author. He was a law professor at

Tilburg University Tilburg University is a public university, public research university specializing in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, law, business sciences, theology and humanities, located in Tilburg in the southern part of the Netherlands. Tilb ...

(1990–2014) and a Member of the Senate for the Labour Party (1999–2007; 2013–2014). He was also the author of several books about law and politics. Witteveen was killed on 17 July 2014 when the flight he was travelling on,

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by Russian forces on 17 July 2014, while flying over eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed. Cont ...

, was shot down over eastern

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

by Russian rebels.

Early life and education

Willem Johannes Witteveen was born on 5 May 1952 in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

in the Netherlands.Prof.Dr. W.J. (Willem) Witteveen
, ''Parlement & Politiek'', 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2014. He was the son of liberal politician

Johan Witteveen Hendrikus Johannes "Johan" Witteveen (12 June 1921 – 23 April 2019) was a Dutch politician and economist who served as the fifth managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 1973 to 1978. Witteveen attended the Gymnasium E ...

and Liesbeth de Vries Feijens. He was also the great-grandson of social-democratic politician Floor Wibaut.Dr. H.J. (Johan) Witteveen
, ''Parlement & Politiek''. Retrieved on 18 July 2014.

", '' NU.nl'', 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2014. He had three brothers and a sister. He went to a public primary

Montessori school The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

in Rotterdam and to the public secondary school

Rijnlands Lyceum Stichting The Rijnlands Lyceum Foundation ( nl, Stichting Het Rijnlands Lyceum) is an educational Stichting, foundation in the Netherlands encompassing nine different schools; three offering primary education and six offering secondary education ...

(1964–1970) in

Wassenaar Wassenaar (; population: in ) is a municipality and town located in the province of South Holland, on the western coast of the Netherlands. An affluent suburb of The Hague, Wassenaar lies north of that city on the N44/A44 highway near the Nort ...

. He studied Dutch law at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

(1970–1978) in

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 ...

Career

From 1979 to 1989, he worked as researcher of

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...

at Leiden University. In 1988, he received his PhD ''

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' with the dissertation ''De retoriek in het recht'' (The rhetorics of law). From 1990 to his death, he was a law professor at

. His fields of expertise were ''

trias politica Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...

'', legislation,

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

legal theory Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

, and

political theory Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...

. Witteveen was a member of the Labour Party since 1994. He was chairman of the

party platform A political party platform (US English), party program, or party manifesto (preferential term in British & often Commonwealth English) is a formal set of principle goals which are supported by a political party or individual candidate, in order ...

committee of the Labour Party in 1998–99. He was a member of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

from 1999 to 2007, where he was chairman of the committee for Internal Affairs and the

High Councils of State High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

. In the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and 2011 Senate elections, he was at an unelectable position on the candidate list. From 2007 to his death, he was founding dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Tilburg University.Professor Witteveen, his wife and student daughter, killed in plane crash
,

, 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2014. From 2013 to his death, he was again a senator. He was appointed after Pauline Meurs left the Senate. Witteveen had finished the manuscript of his book ''De wet als kunstwerk'' (The law as work of art) shortly before his death. The book was posthumously released in November 2014.De wet als kunstwerk
, Uitgeverij Boom. Retrieved on 15 December October 2014.

Death

Witteveen was killed on 17 July 2014 at the age of 62, along with his wife Lidwien Heerkens and their daughter Marit Witteveen. They were passengers on

from

Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport ( nl, Luchthaven Schiphol, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province ...

in the Netherlands to

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

in Malaysia, when the airplane was shot down near Hrabove in Ukraine's contested eastern

Donetsk region The Donetsk Oblast ( ukr, Донецька область, Donetska oblast, ), also referred to as Donechchyna ( ukr, Донеччина, links=no), is an oblast of eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 mill ...

Personal life

Like his father, Witteveen was a Universal Sufist. In 1978, he married Lidwien Heerkens; the couple had two children, a daughter Marit and a son Freek. The family lived in

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...

Bibliography

Witteveen wrote several non-fiction books about law and politics: *(1988) ''De retoriek in het recht'' (The rhetorics of law) *(1992) ''Het theater van de politiek'' (The theater of politics) *(1996) ''De geordende wereld van het recht'' (The structured world of the law) *(2000) ''De denkbeeldige staat'' (The imaginary state) *(2002) ''De sociale rechtsstaat voorbij'' (Past the welfare state) with Bart van Klink *(2010) ''Het wetgevend oordeel'' (The legislative judgement)Het wetgevend oordeel: studies over wetgeving en communicatie
, Bibliotheek.nl. Retrieved on 23 July 2014. *(2014) ''De wet als kunstwerk'' (The law as work of art)

References

External links

Willem Witteveen
articles in '' Academische Boekengids'' (2000–2011)
Willem Witteveen
articles in '' Socialisme & Democratie'' (2002–2010) *
De sociale rechtsstaat voorbij
' (2002), e-book at the Scientific Council for Government Policy website {{DEFAULTSORT:Witteveen, Willem 1952 births 2014 deaths Dutch legal scholars Dutch legal writers Dutch people murdered abroad Dutch political writers Ināyati Sufis Labour Party (Netherlands) politicians Leiden University alumni Leiden University faculty Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 victims Members of the Senate (Netherlands) People from Breda Writers from Rotterdam Tilburg University faculty Scholars of constitutional law