Dr C.M. Cappon (1953) has been named Professor by Special Appointment in the History of the Notarial Profession in the Faculty of Law at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). The chair was established in cooperation with the Foundation for the Promotion of Notarial Science (Stichting tot Bevordering der Notariële Wetenschap) in Amsterdam.

Kees Cappon's scholarly activities centre on nineteenth and twentieth-century history of gift and inheritance law in the Netherlands, as seen in comparison with legal developments in other Western European countries and with a particular focus on the role of jurisprudence and the notarial profession. At present, Cappon is preparing a monograph about the role of legal theories in private law in improving the position of the surviving partner in inheritance laws, which he is co-authoring with Professor Reinhartz (Notarial Law). The book includes a description of the legal-dogmatic shift that has laid the foundation for current intestacy laws in the Netherlands, which are unique when considered in the international context. In conjunction with this research, Cappon will centre his teaching activities on an education and research programme focused on the social task of the notarial profession in modern history.

Cappon has been a member of the UvA Faculty of Law since 1982, where he has served as a legal historian and, since 1996, as Senior University Lecturer in the History of Law section of the General Theory of Law Department. He earned his PhD in 1992 for a thesis entitled The evolution of the will in the diocese of Utrecht. An investigation of legal sources in Utrecht from the beginning of the eighth until the mid-fourteenth century (De opkomst van het testament in het Sticht Utrecht. Een studie op grond van Utrechtse rechtsbronnen van het begin van de achtste tot het midden van de veertiende eeuw), written under the supervision of Hans Ankum and Theo Veen. In addition to presenting a legal analysis of the oldest last wills and testaments in the Northern Netherlands, this book also contributes to our knowledge of the very beginnings of notarial history. Cappon is Vice President of the Institut international d'Histoire du notariat in Paris and is a member of the board of the Stichting tot uitgaaf van de bronnen van het Oud-Vaderlandse Recht, which publishes Dutch national legal sources of historic value.