Peter van Es appointed Professor of Notarial Law
Van Es is the successor to Professor Huijgen whose retirement is approaching after nearly 27 years’ professorship. This new appointment is from October 2022, but Van Es has been working at the faculty for some time.
Peter van Es studied Dutch law in Leiden and later also notarial law at the University of Amsterdam. He began his career as a candidate notary at law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek in The Hague and subsequently transferred to Leiden University in 1999. The wish to obtain a PhD led him to conduct research at the Department of Legal History, supervised by Professor Zwalve. His appointment, however, was at the Department of Notarial Law, where he lectured in various subfields of notarial law.
After obtaining his PhD in 2005 (De actio negatoria, a study of the procedural side of property law), he became Associate Professor and was active in the broad field of research, teaching and management. For example, from 2015 to 2018 he was Director of Education on the Faculty Board of Leiden Law School. Key publications include (besides his PhD thesis) two parts in the series Monografieën BW (Monographs Dutch Civil Code) (Vruchtgebruik and Erfrecht van de langstlevende echtgenoot), as well as an Ars Aequi monograph on acquisition by prescription. He also contributed to a 2007 preliminary report by the Royal Dutch Association of Civil-law Notaries KNB (‘Disclosure obligation and the duty of confidentiality of the civil-law notary’). Professor Van Es is also a staff member at WPNR (a Dutch weekly journal for private law, notarial law and registration) and he is one of the managing editors of Juridische Berichten voor het Notariaat (JBN). He has regularly written articles for both journals.
Van Es' ambition is to continue the solid and highly-rated education in notarial law at Leiden University at its current level, while shifting accent in certain areas. As far as research is concerned, his focus is on dogmatic thinking through the doctrines of private law that are important for the notarial profession, also in light of all kinds of new developments.