OPPENHEIM, JACQUES

OPPENHEIM, JACQUES (1849–1924), Dutch jurist. Oppenheim was born in Groningen, where he became secretary of the municipality in 1873. In 1885 he was appointed professor of constitutional and administrative law at Groningen University and became professor of public and international law at Leiden University in 1893. He was an important figure in several state commissions and was a member of the Council of State from 1907 until 1924. He was a member of the Netherlands Royal Academy of Sciences (1902–24) and curator of Leiden University (1916–24). Of his many books, Het Nederlandsche Gemeenterecht (2 vols., 1895) is an important standard textbook on Dutch municipal law. Active in Jewish affairs, Oppenheim served as chairman of the Ashkenazi rabbinical seminary in Amsterdam and as a member of the board of the Jewish community in The Hague. During World War I he was also president of the European committee of the american jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Through his wife he was connected to the van nierop family. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: W.M. Peletier, in: Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland (1979), S.V. (Henriette Boas / Bart Wallet (2nd ed.)