4 min read Event

In Memory of Professor Jacobien Rutgers

In Memory of Professor Jacobien Rutgers

With deep sadness, SECOLA remembers Professor Jacobien Rutgers, a cherished member of our community and a member of the Board of the European Society for Contract Law.

Jacobien was URC Professor of European Private Law. She studied in Groningen and obtained her PhD at the European University Institute in Florence with a dissertation entitled International Reservation of Title Clauses: A Study of Dutch, French and German Private International Law in the Light of European Law. After completing her doctorate, she practised for four years at one of the major law firms in the Netherlands. She subsequently became a senior lecturer at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, where she taught, among other subjects, Dutch property law, European private law and private international law.

Her scholarly work reflected a deep understanding of the interaction between national private law, private international law and European law. Through her teaching, research and professional engagement, she contributed to the development of European private law and to the dialogue between different legal traditions.

Jacobien was an active and valued member of the European legal academic community. In addition to her role on the Board of SECOLA, she served on the editorial board of the European Review of Contract Law (ERCL) and she was a member of the comitato dei referee of the Osservatorio del diritto civile e commerciale. Her work reflected scholarly depth, generosity and a strong commitment to academic exchange.

For SECOLA, Jacobien was more than a colleague. She was a warm and generous presence in our community and she contributed to SECOLA with thoughtfulness and care. Those who had the privilege of working with her will remember her clarity of thought, kindness, collegiality and dedication to European private law.

We extend our heartfelt condolences to Jacobien’s family, friends, colleagues and students. We share in their loss and honour her memory with gratitude.

Jacobien will be remembered with affection and respect by the SECOLA community.

Messages of Remembrance

Members and friends of SECOLA who wish to share a memory, message of condolence, or tribute to Jacobien are warmly invited to send their contribution by email to l.miller@ucl.ac.uk.

Please indicate whether you consent to your message being published on the SECOLA website, and how you would like your name and affiliation to appear.

Our Individual Memories of dear Jacobien follow:

  • Aurelia Colombi Ciacchi, Professor of Law and Governance,  University of Groningen, Faculty of Law:

"Dear Jacobien, We met for the first time about 25 years ago in Trento at the General Meeting of the 'Common Core of European Private Law' project. Since then, our paths crossed many times. Between 2002 and 2004 we worked together within the Study Group on Social Justice in European Private Law. Both during this period and in the years thereafter, we met very often at conferences and became friends. Two memories of our purely friendship-related gatherings are particularly dear to me:   The first one gets back to 23 June 2016, when you, Brigitta Lurger and I met up in Amsterdam just to spend some time together. It was a very rainy day, but your beautiful smiling face was brighter than the sun.    The second memory is more recent. You visited me in my home in Groningen on 28 February 2024, and I cooked for you some of your favourite dishes. You were already very ill, but still very positive and optimistic. Your warm and gentle smile was radiant as ever.   The same smile was on your face the last time I saw you, at the wonderful SECOLA conference organised by Lucinda Miller in London in June 2024.   After this event, we kept in touch via WhatsApp. Even during the last months of your life, your mindset remained very positive. You purposefully concentrated on the beautiful and good things around you. "The people in the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital are incredibly kind, lovely, and patient", you wrote to me in May this year.   Dearest Jacobien, thank you for everything. You were a wonderful person. We will miss you dearly."

  • Hector L MacQueen CBE FBA FRSE, Emeritus Professor of Private Law, University of Edinburgh Law School

'Jacobien was simply a wonderful colleague in a number of European projects while an abiding memory will be her infectious laughter. She is much too young for me to be writing this sort of thing about her'. 

  • Prof Joasia Lusak, Exeter University law School

When I arrived at the University of Amsterdam more than twenty years ago to start my PhD, I neither spoke Dutch nor knew anyone. Jacobien was among the first colleagues I met, and she immediately made me feel welcome. She always greeted me with a smile, patiently helped me learn Dutch, and was endlessly willing to discuss European private law, legal theory, and comparative law. She was a warm mentor, a supportive colleague, and a dear companion outside work. I will remember her with great fondness and will miss her deeply.

I attach a photo I took of Jacobien about 20 years ago during one of our UvA drinks

  • Prof Robert Stefanicki, Warsaw University

"Let us hurry to love people, they depart so quickly" Jan Twardowski

​My sincere condolences on the passing of Professor J.W. Rutgers. I  remember Jacobien's kindness and patience. One of the small examples when Professor chaired a conference panel - I keep the focus on my personal experience as a presenter in a Spanish event - Jacobien was especially understanding and helped accommodate the organizational challenges (I was facing). Empathetic and considerate, she left a lasting impression on me.May Jacobien rest in peace. 

  • Prof Henk Snijders, Leiden University

It has been at least 25 years since I last had contact with Jacobien, in connection with conferences at which she was a speaker. I still have fond memories of her: a kind, knowledgeable and dedicated colleague. I wish you all much strength as you come to terms with this great loss.

  • Prof. Dr. Francisco Javier Jiménez-Muñoz, MDCEFull Professor of Civil LawUniversidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, UNED 

I would like to transmit my deepest condolences to Jacobien's relatives and the SECOLA Executive Board. It has been very sad news, and an important loss both in the personal and academic spheres, especially in the field of European Contract Law. It will take a long time to make up for their absence.