Willem Witteveen

Willem Johannes Witteveen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʋɪləm joˈɦɑnəs ˈʋɪtəˌveːn]; 5 May 1952 – 17 July 2014) was a Dutch legal scholar, politician, and author. He was a law professor at Tilburg University (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, was shot down over eastern Ukraine by pro Russian rebels.

Willem Witteveen
Witteveen in January 2014
Member of the Senate
In office
15 January 2013 – 17 July 2014
In office
8 June 1999 – 12 June 2007
Personal details
Born
Willem Johannes Witteveen

(1952-05-05)5 May 1952
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Died17 July 2014(2014-07-17) (aged 62)
Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, near Hrabove, Ukraine
Cause of deathAircraft shootdown
Political partyLabour Party (1994–2014)
Spouse
Lidwien Heerkens
​
​
(m. 1978; died 2014)​
ChildrenMarit (d. 2014)
Freek
Parents
Residence(s)Breda, Netherlands
Alma materLeiden University
OccupationPolitician, professor, author

Early life and education

Willem Johannes Witteveen was born on 5 May 1952 in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.[1]

He was the son of liberal politician Johan Witteveen and Liesbeth de Vries Feijens. He was also the great-grandson of social-democratic politician Floor Wibaut.[2][3] He had three brothers and a sister.[1]

He went to a public primary Montessori school in Rotterdam and to the public secondary school Rijnlands Lyceum (1964–1970) in Wassenaar. He studied Dutch law at Leiden University (1970–1978) in Leiden.[1]

Career

From 1979 to 1989, he worked as researcher of constitutional law at Leiden University. In 1988, he received his PhD cum laude with the dissertation De retoriek in het recht (The rhetorics of law). From 1990 to his death, he was a law professor at Tilburg University.[1] His fields of expertise were trias politica, legislation, rhetoric, legal theory, and political theory.[4]

Witteveen was a member of the Labour Party since 1994. He was chairman of the party platform committee of the Labour Party in 1998–99. He was a member of the Senate from 1999 to 2007, where he was chairman of the committee for Internal Affairs and the High Councils of State. In the 2007 and 2011 Senate elections, he was at an unelectable position on the candidate list.[1]

From 2007 to his death, he was founding dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Tilburg University.[1][5] From 2013 to his death, he was again a senator.[1] He was appointed after Pauline Meurs left the Senate.[6]

Witteveen had finished the manuscript of his book De wet als kunstwerk (The law as work of art) shortly before his death.[7] The book was posthumously released in November 2014.[8]

Death

Witteveen was killed on 17 July 2014 at the age of 62, along with his wife Lidwien Heerkens and their daughter Marit Witteveen.[3][5] They were passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 from Schiphol in the Netherlands to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, when the airplane was shot down near Hrabove in Ukraine's contested eastern Donetsk region.[9][10][11]

Personal life

Like his father, Witteveen was a Universal Sufist.[2][12] In 1978, he married Lidwien Heerkens; the couple had two children, a daughter Marit and a son Freek. The family lived in Breda in North Brabant.[1][5][13]

Bibliography

Witteveen wrote several non-fiction books about law and politics:

  • (1988) De retoriek in het recht (The rhetorics of law)[14]
  • (1992) Het theater van de politiek (The theater of politics)[15]
  • (1996) De geordende wereld van het recht (The structured world of the law)[16]
  • (2000) De denkbeeldige staat (The imaginary state)[17]
  • (2002) De sociale rechtsstaat voorbij (Past the welfare state) with Bart van Klink[18]
  • (2010) Het wetgevend oordeel (The legislative judgement)[19]
  • (2014) De wet als kunstwerk (The law as work of art)[8]

References
  1. (in Dutch) Prof.Dr. W.J. (Willem) Witteveen Archived 21 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Parlement & Politiek, 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2014.
  2. (in Dutch) Dr. H.J. (Johan) Witteveen Archived 17 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Parlement & Politiek. Retrieved on 18 July 2014.
  3. (in Dutch) "Eerste Kamerlid Willem Witteveen omgekomen bij vliegramp Archived 20 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine", NU.nl, 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2014.
  4. W.J. (Willem) Witteveen Archived 12 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Tilburg University. Retrieved on 20 July 2014.
  5. Professor Witteveen, his wife and student daughter, killed in plane crash Archived 19 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Tilburg University, 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2014.
  6. (in Dutch) Benoeming W.J. Witteveen tot lid van de Eerste Kamer Archived 28 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Electoral Council, 2013. Retrieved on 21 July 2014.
  7. (in Dutch) Willem Witteveen omgekomen Archived 26 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Uitgeverij Boom. Retrieved on 21 July 2014.
  8. (in Dutch) De wet als kunstwerk Archived 23 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Uitgeverij Boom. Retrieved on 15 December October 2014.
  9. (in Dutch) "Senator Willem Witteveen omgekomen bij crash Archived 26 July 2014 at archive.today", Ouderenjournaal, 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2014.
  10. "MH17 crash: Passengers on Malaysia Airlines plane in Ukraine Archived 31 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine", BBC News, 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2014.
  11. Sabrina Tavernise, Eric Schmitt, and Rick Gladstone, "Jetliner Explodes Over Ukraine; Struck by Missile, Officials Say Archived 8 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine", The New York Times, 2014. Retrieved on 21 July 2014.
  12. (in Dutch) Prof.dr. W.J. Witteveen (PvdA) Archived 23 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Senate, 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2014.
  13. "Victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Archived 14 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine", The New York Times, 2014. Retrieved on 20 July 2014.
  14. (in Dutch) De retoriek in het recht: over retorica en interpretatie, staatsrecht en democratie Archived 1 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Bibliotheek.nl. Retrieved on 23 July 2014.
  15. (in Dutch) Het theater van de politiek : publieke retorica en de paspoortaffaire Archived 1 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Bibliotheek.nl. Retrieved on 23 July 2014.
  16. (in Dutch) De geordende wereld van het recht: een inleiding Archived 1 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Bibliotheek.nl. Retrieved on 23 July 2014.
  17. (in Dutch) De denkbeeldige staat: voorstellingen van democratische vernieuwing Archived 1 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Bibliotheek.nl. Retrieved on 23 July 2014.
  18. (in Dutch) De sociale rechtsstaat voorbij: twee ontwerpen voor het huis van de rechtsstaat Archived 1 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Bibliotheek.nl. Retrieved on 23 July 2014.
  19. (in Dutch) Het wetgevend oordeel: studies over wetgeving en communicatie Archived 1 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Bibliotheek.nl. Retrieved on 23 July 2014.
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