Guenter Treitel

{{Short description|German-born English legal academic (1928–2019)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix = Sir | name = Guenter Heinz Treitel | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|QC|FBA}} | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1928|10|26}} | birth_place = Berlin, Germany | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2019|06|14|1928|10|26}} | death_place = England | death_cause = | nationality =  | citizenship =  | other_names = | occupation = Academic | period = | known_for = Vinerian Professor of English Law | title = | boards =  | spouse = Phyllis Cook (1957) | partner = | children = 2 sons: Richard & Henry | parents = | relatives = | awards = Fellow of the British Academy (1977) | website = | education = Kilburn Grammar School | alma_mater = Magdalen College, Oxford | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences =  | era = | discipline = Law | sub_discipline = Law of contract<br/>English contract law | workplaces = Magdalen College, Oxford<br/>All Souls College, Oxford | doctoral_students =  | notable_students = | main_interests = | notable_works = ''Treitel on the Law of Contract'' | notable_ideas = | influenced =  | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }}

'''Sir Guenter Heinz Treitel''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|QC|FBA}} (26 October 1928 – 14 June 2019<ref>{{cite news |title=Professor Sir Guenter Treitel, QC obituary |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/professor-sir-guenter-treitel-qc-obituary-79hzl3s0p |work=The Times |access-date=14 August 2019}}</ref><ref name="burke">{{cite book |title= Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood|publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry |editor= Mosley, Charles |editor-link=Charles Mosley (genealogist) |edition=107 |year= 2003 |page= 3930 |ref=Burke |isbn=0-9711966-2-1}}</ref>) was a German-born English academic and Vinerian Professor of English Law.<ref name="Profile">{{cite web|url=http://www.law.ox.ac.uk/profile/treitelg|title=Oxford Law profile – Guenter Treitel|publisher=University of Oxford|accessdate=24 March 2010}}</ref>

Treitel was born in Berlin into a Jewish family, the son of a prominent lawyer, Theodor Treitel, and his wife, Hannah Lilly Levy.<ref name="burke"/> In March 1939, he came to England on the ''Kindertransport'' together with his older brother, Kurt Max Treitel, and sister Celia.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Treitel |first1=Caroline |title=Kurt Treitel obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/law/2018/feb/08/kurt-treitel-obituary |accessdate=3 May 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=8 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hagalil.com/archiv/2012/09/02/treitel-6/|title=Vom KZ Theresienstadt ins DP-Camp 7 Deggendorf – haGalil|website=www.hagalil.com|date=2 September 2012 |language=de-DE|access-date=2017-08-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordchabad.org/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/633155/jewish/Lectures.htm|title=Lectures at Oxford University Chabad Society|accessdate=24 March 2010}}</ref> Treitel was once described by Lord Steyn as "one of the most distinguished academic writers on the law of contract in the English speaking world", and has often been described as the leading authority on English contract law. He was the author of ''Treitel on the Law of Contract'',<ref name="Profile"/> a seminal work on English contract law.

He was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 1977. In 1983, he became a Trustee of the British Museum and in 1984 became a Member of the Council of the National Trust.<ref name="ba">{{cite journal| title=Guenter Treitel | journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy | volume=XIX | pages=129–148 | date=3 July 2020 | publisher=British Academy | first=Francis | last=Reynolds | author-link=Francis Reynolds (legal scholar) }}</ref>

Treitel retired as Vinerian Professor in 1997 and received a knighthood for services to law. Treitel had been a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford<ref name="Profile"/> since 1979; he was previously a Fellow of Magdalen College<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.magd.ox.ac.uk/whos-here/fellows-and-lecturers/fellows/treitelg|title=Professor Sir Guenter Treitel – Emeritus Fellow|publisher=Magdalen College|accessdate=24 March 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609065435/http://www.magd.ox.ac.uk/whos-here/fellows-and-lecturers/fellows/treitelg|archivedate=9 June 2011}}</ref> from 1954 to 1979.

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box | before=Rupert Cross| title=Vinerian Professor of English Law| years=1979—1997| after=Andrew Ashworth }} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Treitel, Guenter}} Category:1928 births Category:2019 deaths Category:Academics from Berlin Category:Kindertransport refugees Category:Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Category:Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Category:People educated at Kilburn Grammar School Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Category:20th-century English lawyers Category:Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford Category:Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Category:Vinerian Professors of English Law Category:Fellows of the British Academy Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Lawyers awarded knighthoods Category:English legal scholars Category:English barristers Category:Trustees of the British Museum Category:National Trust people