Lawפלטיאל דייקן

Paltiel Dykan

Paltiel Dykan was an Israeli jurist and scholar of Jewish law who received the Israel Prize for jurisprudence in 1957.

1885 to 1969Research on Jewish lawHelping found Tel Aviv UniversityEditing the journal HaPraklit

Born: 12 May 1885, Vileyka
Died: 12 February 1969, Petah Tikva
Occupation: lawyer, legal scholar, university teacher, jurist
Education: Odesa University
Founded: School of Law and Economics (1935)

Paltiel Dykan was born in 1885 in Vileyka

Dykan was born in 1885 in Vileyka, Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire. His family later moved to Feodosia in Crimea, where he finished a government gymnasium.

He studied law at the University of Odessa and graduated in 1910, with research on Roman law. Until 1917 he worked as a legal assistant in Petersburg and became a lawyer focused on Jewish law. In 1913 he cofounded a group for the study of Jewish legal history.

In 1921 he moved to the Land of Israel with his wife and son. From 1922 to 1938 he was secretary of the Supreme Hebrew Court of Peace, and from 1943 he edited the bar association journal HaPraklit.

In 1935 he helped found the School of Law and Economics, a basis for Tel Aviv University. He was dean of its law faculty from 1948, rector from 1958 and a full professor from 1959. He also taught law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1950.

He died in Petah Tikva in 1969.