Important personalitiesBack
Tobias Michael Carel Asser28.4.1838
Life
Asser was son of Carel Daniel Asser (1813–85), and grandson of Carel Asser (1780-1836). He studied law at the University of Amsterdam and Leiden University and was law professor at the University of Amsterdam.
Asser co-founded the Revue de Droit International et de Législation Comparée with John Westlake and Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns. He also co-founded the Institut de Droit International. in 1873.
He was a delegate of the Netherlands to both Hague Peace Conferences in 1899 and 1907. His work in the creation of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the first conference earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1911. In 1902, he sat on the first arbitration panel to hear an international controversy brought by two states under the auspice of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Pious Fund of the Californias Case. He also took a hand in the establishment of what would become the Hague Academy of International Law, though he did not live to see its foundation.
A research institute in the fields of Private and Public International Law, European Law and International Commercial Arbitration is named after Tobias Michael Carel Asser. This is the T.M.C. Asser Instituut, based in The Hague, Netherlands.
