Willem Zwalve

Willem Jans Zwalve (born 7 September 1949) is a Dutch legal historian. He was a professor at the University of Groningen from 1987 until 1993 and subsequently at Leiden University from 1993 until 2014.

Life Zwalve was born 7 September 1949 in Groningen. In his youth he had an interest in studying ancient languages or history, but his father stated: "I don't want to subsidize hobbies". Zwalve thus started studying law in 1968. While working as a scientific employee Zwalve became inspired by watching and others work on a translation of the Corpus Juris Civilis. Zwalve obtained his PhD at the University of Groningen in 1981 with a thesis titled: "Proeve ener theorie der denegatio actionis : een onderzoek naar de positie van de magistraat in het Romeinse burgerlijke procesrecht", a work on Roman civil procedure. German jurist Reinhard Zimmermann has described Zwalve's "Hoofdstukken uit de geschiedenis van het Europese privaatrecht" as a pioneering historical and comparative study.