OBITUARY: EMERITUS PROFESSOR JØRGEN DALBERG-LARSEN

It is with great sadness that we at the Department of Law have learnt that our colleague Jørgen Dalberg-Larsen has passed away following a short illness. Jørgen was a well-liked colleague, a competent lecturer and not least a great capacity and expert within the fields of sociology of law and general jurisprudence. We will sorely miss his great academic expertise and him as a person.

Jørgen was a trained lawyer and was attached to the Department of Law for more than 40 years. Here, he was particularly committed to developing the course Sociology of Law as part of the law degree programme, and he wrote several books and textbooks on this subject. In 1977, he became Doctor of Law with the thesis “Retsvidenskaben som samfundsvidenskab” (“Jurisprudence as social science”), and in 1996, he became professor of general jurisprudence and sociology of law. Jørgen has put an indelible stamp on the Department of Law throughout his many years of employment. He has always contributed loyally to the development of the department, especially during his time as head of the General Jurisprudence section. Under his leadership, the section achieved a double-digit number of employees, who studied law from different angles in a broader societal perspective.

With his wide knowledge of general jurisprudence, Jørgen was an internationally recognised researcher, and his contribution to research within the field of sociology of law on various topics such as arbitration as an alternative to the courts, cooperative societies, family law policies, the pragmatic theory of law, mediation processes, and the globalisation of law, will be long remembered - especially in Denmark and in the other Nordic countries. He was continuously concerned with the general development tendencies of law and the effects of law on society. Thus, he was also an active member of the research center INTRALAW at Aarhus University up until the time of his death.

Throughout his many years at the department, Jørgen has been an extremely popular and well-liked colleague. He was known for his great helpfulness, friendliness and openness as well as his continuous eagerness to learn what his colleagues - both young and old - were working with. Jørgen always took the time for others; either to help with an academic problem, to have a cup of coffee or to enjoy a cigar in the company of a good colleague - while this was still allowed. Jørgen was a very generous and warm person with a great and infectious commitment. He was a cherished and respected colleague, supervisor and lecturer. He was a decent human being in the best sense of the word. He will be missed.

Let us pay tribute to his memory.