Peter Schlechtriem (2.3.1933-23.4.2007)

• Pages: 190-190

(2.3.1933-23.4.2007)

Peter Schlechtriem, a great researcher, person, teacher and colleague, has passed away. The people who knew him admired and respected him as an exceptionally wise and intelligent scholar, an energetic advocate for comparative legal science, a person with a great heart, whose amiability and helpfulness will never be forgotten by those who experienced it. His clear and simple style, which made every discussion he participated in an enjoyable insight into complicated legal discourses, is unforgettable.

Peter Schlechtriem was born in Jena, studied law in Hamburg and received a Doctoral level degree in 1964 in Freiburg, while working as an assistant to Professor Ernst von Caemmerer. Throughout his life Schlechtriem was involved with the University of Freiburg. After receiving a Master’s level degree in Comparative Law in 1964/1965 at the University of Chicago, he returned to Freiburg and was habilitated in 1970, again under the supervision of Professor von Caemmerer. Cooperation with one of the most renowned jurists was decisive in his later activities as a researcher and teacher. From 1971-1977 Professor Schlechtriem worked as a Professor in the University of Heidelberg and was the Director of the Institute of Private International Law. After returning to Freiburg, he became a successor of Professor von Caemmerer and Co-director of the Institute for Foreign and International Private Law, until the year 2000. From 1970-1977 he was the President of the Comparative Law Society (GesellschaftfürRechtsvergleichung). In 1995 he was elected Honorary Doctor of the University of Basel and in 2002 Honorary Doctor of the University of Tartu. Schlechtriem worked as a Visiting Professor for the Universities of Oxford, Chicago, Harvard, Wellington, Fribourg and Zurich.

Professor Schlechtriem was an internationally acclaimed and known specialist in commercial law and participated in drafting the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts. He made an invaluable contribution to the harmonisation and development of the European law of...