Jan Smits

Who is Jan Smits?

Jan M. Smits is a Dutch law professor. He is professor of European Private Law at Maastricht University and director of the Maastricht European Private Law Institute. He is also visiting professor of Comparative Legal Studies in the University of Helsinki.

Smits was born in Leiden in 1967. Between 1986 and 1991 he studied law at Leiden University and at the University of Poitiers. In 1995 he obtained his Ph.D degree from Leiden University on a thesis about the foundations of contractual liability. He then taught at Stellenbosch University and in Tilburg and Maastricht. In 1999, he was appointed to the Chair of European Private Law at Maastricht University, a position he temporarily left between 2008 and 2010 to become professor of European Private Law and Comparative Law at Tilburg University. In October 2010 he returned to Maastricht to found the Maastricht European Private Law Institute. Smits is known for his critical view of the European harmonisation process; he is also a fierce believer in legal science as an international discipline.