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 Catholic research university specializing in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, law, business sciences, theology and humanities, located in Tilburg, Netherlands. Tilburg has a student population of about 19,1 ...

(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 Airport Schiphol, Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by Russian-backed forces with a Buk missile system, Bu ...

, was shot down over eastern

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Early life and education

Willem Johannes Witteveen was born on 5 May 1952 in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

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 Johan may refer to: * Johan (given name) * ''Johan'' (1921 film), a Swedish film directed by Mauritz Stiller * Johan (2005 film), a Dutch romantic comedy film * Johan (band), a Dutch pop-group ** ''Johan'' (album), a 1996 album by the group * Joh ...

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 is a type of educational method that involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing ...

in Rotterdam and to the public secondary school

Rijnlands Lyceum Stichting The Rijnlands Lyceum Foundation () is an educational foundation in the Netherlands encompassing nine different schools; three offering primary education and six offering secondary education. The Foundation, established in 1936, is ba ...

(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''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

(1970–1978) in

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

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, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

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 Sout ...

'' 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 The separation of powers principle functionally differentiates several types of state power (usually law-making, adjudication, and execution) and requires these operations of government to be conceptually and institutionally distinguishable ...

'', legislation,

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

legal theory Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

, and

political theory Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and legitimacy of political institutions, such as states. This field investigates different forms of government, ranging from d ...

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

party platform A political party platform (American English), party program, or party manifesto (preferential term in British and often Commonwealth English) is a formal set of principal goals which are supported by a political party or individual candidate, t ...

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 to ...

. In the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

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 A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary education, tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding academic degree, degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further educatio ...

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 (, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands, and is one of the major hubs for the SkyTeam airline alliance. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipal ...

in the Netherlands to

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

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

Donetsk region Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna (, ), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its capital city, administrative centre is Donetsk, though d ...

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 List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic 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 ...

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 The Scientific Council for Government Policy ( Dutch: Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid, WRR) is an independent think tank of the Government of the Netherlands based in The Hague, whose members include prominent social scientists, e ...

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 Academic staff of Leiden University Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 victims Members of the Senate (Netherlands) Politicians from Breda Writers from Rotterdam Academic staff of Tilburg University Dutch scholars of constitutional law 21st-century Dutch lawyers 21st-century Dutch writers 21st-century Dutch politicians 20th-century Dutch lawyers 20th-century Dutch writers 20th-century Dutch politicians