Hans Nieuwenhuis, born in Deventer, the Netherlands, in 1944. LL.D. from Leiden University. Professor of Private Law at Leiden University († 2015).
Guest of the Rector (1 April 2010 – 30 June 2010)
HOW ARE WE TO UNDERSTAND PRIVATE LAW?
I started at NIAS as Guest of the Rector in April 2010. I did research for a book with the provisional title: “Natural persons, a literary anthropology of the law”. It was also the topic of my seminar at NIAS. On the initiative of Michiel Westenberg this had an interesting follow-up: a small seminar attended by Michiel Westenberg, Irene van Staveren, Micha de Winter, Ibo van de Poel, Henk de Regt and myself on “Free Will and Responsibility”.
Inspired by my research at NIAS I gave a series of lectures on “Law & Literature” in Nijmegen, Middelburg (Roosevelt Academy), Zeist (Woudschoten), Groningen, in most cases for members of the judiciary.
As a direct result of my stay at NIAS I wrote a paper “Luistert het recht naar de stem van het geweten?” (Does the law listen to the voice of conscience?). This paper will be published in a forthcoming book scheduled for December 2010.