Basil Markesinis


Sir Basil Markesinis QC, LLD, DCL, FBA is a Greek-British barrister and legal scholar currently holding the position of Jamail Regents Professor at the University of Texas, Austin. He was previously Professor of Common and Civil Law at University College London.

Early life and education

Sir Basil was born in Athens, Greece. He is the son of Greek politician Spyros Markezinis. He holds dual British and Greek citizenship. He started his education at the law school of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens from where he graduated with a first class degree followed by a Doctor Iuris, Athens - "Summa Cum Laude". Sir Basil then went to read law at the University of Cambridge where he earned MA and PhD in 1970. In 1972, he was called to the bar at Gray's Inn, of which he is now a Bencher. He took silk, thus becoming a senior barrister, in 2001. Sir Basil has been awarded an honorary degree from Cambridge, Gent, Oxford, Paris I, Munich and Athens.

Career

He has held office as Assistant Professor of Roman and Byzantine Law at the University of Athens, Fellow and Director of Studies in Law at Trinity College, Cambridge, Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, Denning Professor of Comparative Law at Queen Mary and Westfield College, Professor of European Private Law at University College London, Clifford Chance Professor of European Law and Director of the Institute of European and Comparative Law, and Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford and Clifford Chance Professor of Comparative Law and Fellow of Brasenose College.
Other positions have included Director and Founder of the Institute of Anglo-American Law, Leiden, member of the Council of Management of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, member of the Board of Management of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, member of the Board of Editors of European Review of Private Law, Revue de droit internationale et de droit comparé, and The Netherlands Journal of International Law.
He has held visiting professorships at Cornell Law School, University of Paris I, Panthéon-Assas University, the University of Michigan Law School, the University of Ghent, and the University of Siena.
He has authored or co-authored thirty books and more than one hundred and twenty articles in languages including English, French, German, and Greek.

Civil honor

Civil Honors include:
Bundesverdienstkreuz, Erste Klass
Officier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques
Chevalier dans l'Ordre National de la Legion of Honour
Cavaliere-Ufficiale dell' Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana
Queens Counsel, honoris causa
Grosse Verdienstkreuz
Grande Ufficiale dell' Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana
Commander of the Order of Honour
Commandeur dans l'Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur
Grand Officier dans l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur , awarded by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi for “services to Comparative Law, Italian Law and European Integration”.
Knight Commander of the Order of Merit, awarded by President Johannes Rau for “exceptional services rendered to German-British relations”..
Knight Bachelor.
Chevalier Grand-Croix dans l'Ordre National du Mérite, .
He is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Academy of Athens, the Institut de France and the Royal Belgian Academy. He has been a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1995. He is also a member of the American Law Institute, of the Commercial Bar Association, and the London Common Law and Commercial Bar Association.

Family

Professor Markesinis is married to Eugenie Trypanis and they have two children.

Articles