Prof Dr Remco van Rhee (C.H.)
C.H. (Remco) van Rhee (1968) is Professor of European Legal History and Comparative Civil Procedure at Maastricht University and director of the program “Foundations and Principles of Civil Procedure in Europe” of the Ius Commune Research School. He studied law at the universities of Leiden and Edinburgh, History at the university of Leuven and Psychology at the university of Leiden. He defended his PhD thesis on early-modern civil procedure at the university of Leiden, where he received his doctorate in 1997 with the highest distinction. His PhD thesis was awarded the prix d’excellence of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation in 1997.
Van Rhee taught Roman Law at the University of Leiden (1991-1994) and Property and Civil Procedure at the University of Utrecht (1994-1998) before being appointed at Maastricht University to the chair of European Legal History and Comparative Civil Procedure. He served, amongst other things, as head of department, member of the science committee of the law faculty of Maastricht University, academic director of the Maastricht University European Law School Master program and chairman of the Education Board of the Maastricht University European Law School.
Civil Procedure, Comparative Civil Procedure, Court Organisation, Roman Law, Legal History, History of Courts & Adjudication
Academic and related interests
Professor van Rhee publishes, teaches and supervises students in the field of comparative law, civil procedure, history of courts & adjudication, and European legal history in general. He has a special interest in the harmonization of civil procedure, both in Europe and on a global scale, and in best practices in this field. He is actively involved as advisor in civil procedure reform projects for the Council of Europe and serves as scientific organizer of major seminars and workshops in this field in Europe and Asia.
Visiting positions and other activities
Professor van Rhee held visiting positions at various foreign institutions, including the University of Ghent (Belgium, honorary chair of Tijdschrift voor Privaatrecht), the University of Cape Town (South Africa), the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa), the Catholic University of Valparaíso (Chile), the Central European University in Budapest (Hungary), the China-EU School of Law in Beijing (PR China), the Geneva-Duke Summer School (Switzerland), the Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University (Russian Federation), the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (Romania), the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev (Ukraine), Universitas Gadjah Mada of Yokyakarta (Indonesia), the University of Chisinau (Moldova), the University of Odessa (Ukraine), the Urals State University of Ekaterinburg (Russian Federation), and Wayne State University Law School in Detroit (USA).
Van Rhee is co-director of an annual course on Public and Private Justice organized at the Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik (Croatia).
Professor van Rhee is a member of the editorial board of Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis (The Legal History Review / Revue d’histoire du droit), Pro Memorie: Bijdragen tot de Rechtsgeschiedenis der Nederlanden (Dutch Legal History Journal) and Tijdschrift voor Civiele Rechtspleging (Dutch Civil Procedure Journal). He is general editor of the History of Private Law series and of the China & Comparative Law series (Brill publishers).
Van Rhee is member of the international editorial board of Comparative Legal History, and of the board of advice of Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Burgerlijk Recht (Dutch Journal of Private Law), Zbornik. Pravnog Fakulteta U Zagrebu, and Glossae: European Journal of Legal History.
Elected memberships
Van Rhee is founding member of the European Society for Comparative Legal History, Council Member of the International Association of Procedural Law, Member of the Wissenschaftliche Vereinigung für Internationales Verfahrensrecht and fellow of the Maastricht European Private Law Institute (Mepli). He is also an elected member of "Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde" ("Society of Dutch Literature and History", founded in 1766).
