Born in Athens towards the end of the Second World War and settling in England in 1968, Basil (Vassili) Markesinis was to become one of the world’s leading comparative lawyers of his generation. An Assistant Professor of Roman and Byzantine Law at the University of Athens, he went on to hold Chairs at the universities of London (Queen Mary and Westfield College and University College) and Oxford, and Visiting Professorships at Cornell University, the University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne), the University of Paris II (Panthéon-Assas) and the universities of Leiden, Texas, Ghent, Siena and Michigan. A prodigious scholar, he wrote and co-authored more than 40 books, as well as publishing countless articles and lectures in English, French, German and Greek in leading periodicals. He also founded several Institutes. At whatever law school he was based he enriched its international profile and activity. But law was not his only interest. He had a deep knowledge of the classics and of art, in which fields he also published, and his hobbies included archaeological digs, painting and fundraising (he was a past master at raising substantial funds from governments to establish academic posts).
Posted to Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy, 21