Lafourcade, Maïté

Maïté Lafourcade (1934-2025, Bayonne) was emeritus professor at the University of Pau and the Adour Countries (UPPA); professor at the Pluridisciplinary Faculty of Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz since its creation; founder and director of the Research Centre in Basque Studies at that university.

She hold a degree in Law from the University of Bordeaux and Diplomas of Higher Studies in Private Law and History of Law from the University of Paris. She obtained her doctorate with a thesis entitled Les contrats de mariage du pays de Labourd sous le règne de Louis XVI. Étude juridique et sociologique.

She collaborated with the Law section of Eusko Ikaskuntza, including the publication of four works: La pratique actuelle du droit coutumier au Pays basque; La frontière franco-espagnole, lieu de conflits interétatiques et de collaboration interrégionale; 1492-1992. L'exode des Juifs d'Espagne vers Bayonne. Des rives de l'Ebre et du Tage vers Bayonne; and La frontière des origines à nos jours.

Secretary General of the Association for the Protection of Children in the Basque Country, honorary member of the Royal Basque Society of the Friends of the Country, and vice-president of Eusko Ikaskuntza Iparralde since its creation.

She was the author of 67 articles, 61 of them about the Basque Country (Iparralde). After her retirement, she remained active, teaching a course on Basque Law to students of Basque Studies in Bayonne.

She received the Palmes Académiques award from the French government, as well as the Gold Cross of Merit and Devotion. She received the Eusko Ikaskuntza - Laboral Kutxa Award for Humanities, Culture, Arts and Social Sciences (2006), and the Sabino Arana Foundation Award (2011).