# Guenter Treitel

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{{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}}
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| birth_date         = {{birth date|df=yes|1928|10|26}}
| birth_place        = [Berlin](/source/Berlin), [Germany](/source/Germany)
| death_date         = {{death date and age|df=yes|2019|06|14|1928|10|26}}
| death_place        = [England](/source/England)
| death_cause        = 
| nationality        = <!-- use only when necessary per [WP:INFONAT](/source/WP%3AINFONAT) -->
| citizenship        = <!-- use only when necessary per [WP:INFONAT](/source/WP%3AINFONAT) -->
| other_names        = 
| occupation         = Academic
| period             = 
| known_for          = [Vinerian Professor of English Law](/source/Vinerian_Professor_of_English_Law)
| title              = 
| boards             = <!--board or similar positions extraneous to main occupation-->
| spouse             = Phyllis Cook (1957)
| partner            = 
| children           = 2 sons: Richard & Henry
| parents            = 
| relatives          = 
| awards             = Fellow of the [British Academy](/source/British_Academy) (1977)
| website            = 
| education          = [Kilburn Grammar School](/source/Kilburn_Grammar_School)
| alma_mater         = [Magdalen College, Oxford](/source/Magdalen_College%2C_Oxford)
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| discipline         = [Law](/source/Law)
| sub_discipline     = [Law of contract](/source/Law_of_contract)<br/>[English contract law](/source/English_contract_law)
| workplaces         = [Magdalen College, Oxford](/source/Magdalen_College%2C_Oxford)<br/>[All Souls College, Oxford](/source/All_Souls_College%2C_Oxford)
| doctoral_students  = <!--only those with WP articles-->
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| notable_works      = ''Treitel on the Law of Contract''
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'''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](/source/The_Times) |access-date=14 August 2019}}</ref><ref name="burke">{{cite book |title= [Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood](/source/Burke's_Peerage)|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](/source/Germany) [English](/source/England) academic and [Vinerian Professor of English Law](/source/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](/source/University_of_Oxford)|accessdate=24 March 2010}}</ref>

Treitel was born in [Berlin](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Lord_Steyn) as "one of the most distinguished academic writers on the [law of contract](/source/law_of_contract) in the English speaking world", and has often been described as the leading authority on [English contract law](/source/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](/source/British_Academy) in 1977. In 1983, he became a Trustee of the [British Museum](/source/British_Museum) and in 1984 became a Member of the Council of the [National Trust](/source/National_Trust).<ref name="ba">{{cite journal| title=Guenter Treitel | journal=[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy](/source/Biographical_Memoirs_of_Fellows_of_the_British_Academy) | volume=XIX | pages=129–148 | date=3 July 2020 | publisher=[British Academy](/source/British_Academy) | first=Francis | last=Reynolds | author-link=Francis Reynolds (legal scholar) }}</ref>

Treitel retired as Vinerian Professor in 1997 and received a [knighthood](/source/Knight_Bachelor) for services to law. Treitel had been a Fellow of [All Souls College, Oxford](/source/All_Souls_College%2C_Oxford)<ref name="Profile"/> since 1979; he was previously a Fellow of [Magdalen College](/source/Magdalen_College%2C_Oxford)<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](/source/Magdalen_College%2C_Oxford)|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](/source/Rupert_Cross)|
  title=[Vinerian Professor of English Law](/source/Vinerian_Professor_of_English_Law)|
  years=1979—1997|
  after=[Andrew Ashworth](/source/Andrew_Ashworth)
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Guenter Treitel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guenter_Treitel) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guenter_Treitel?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.