The Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law: „Legal Scholarship at the Crossroads of Globalisation and National Law“
The Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law (in short: MPI for Private Law) is dedicated to completing foundational comparative law research in foreign, European and international private law, commercial law, economic law and procedural law. The MPI for Private Law accomplishes its mission by methodically analysing foreign legal systems and comparing them both in respect of German law and one another. An important goal of the research performed at the MPI for Private Law is to explore the possibilities for harmonising diverse national legal systems. In light of increasing globalisation and the resulting internationalisation of law, this is an academic mission of deep significance carrying special relevance within unified Europe. The Institute presently employs around 160 individuals on its staff.
Given the context of European legal harmonisation, current research emphasis is being placed on the law of obligations, especially contract law; company law including the law of non-profit organisations; banking and finance law; transportation law; insurance law and the law of credit security; and competition law. Beyond Europe’s borders the Institute, among its other efforts, focuses upon corporate governance in the triad of Europe-Japan-USA, has regional emphases in East Asia, Latin American and the Islamic world, and is studying mixed legal systems.
The results of Institute research work can be found in scholarly publications as well as in the recommendations and expert analyses prepared for commissions, governments and courts. Additionally, researchers of the MPI for Private Law are active participants in the preparation of draft legislation at both the national and international level. New research impulses are regularly fostered by ongoing international cooperations as well as scholarly networks extending to domestic and foreign universities.
The Library:
The MPI for Private Law has one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of private law at its disposal. With current holdings totalling mor than 500,000 volumes, the library represents the foundation for the scholarly research undertaken by the Institute staff as well as the roughly 1000 guests who arrive each year from throughout the world.
The Directors of the MPI for Private Law:
The Institute is led by three Directors, under whom the position of Managing Director regularly rotates:
- Jürgen Basedow (at the Institute since 1997)
Emphases: Private International Law, European Private Law and Economic Law, particularly Competition Law, Transportation Law and Insurance Law
- Holger Fleischer (at the Institute since 2009)
Emphases: German and International Company Law and Securities Regulation, Commercial Law including Accounting Law, Economic Analysis of the Law and Comparative Law
- Reinhard Zimmermann - currently Managing Director (at the Institute since 2002)
Emphases: Harmonisation of European Private Law, Law of Obligations in Historical and Comparative Perspective, Relationships between English Common Law and Continental European Civil Law, Mixed Legal Systems
A Short History of the MPI for Private Law:
The Institute was founded in 1926 under the aegis of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science. The Institute’s initial mission was performing foundational comparative law research in the field of private law as pertaining to legal consequences resulting from the First World War. The first Director was Ernst Rabel, one of the most significant jurists of the 20th century. With his monograph „Law of the Sale of Goods“, Rabel ranks among the pathfinders of international comparative law.
In 1949 the Institute was integrated into the Max Planck Society. The Institute relocated to Hamburg in 1956, after having been evacuated in 1944 from Berlin to Tübingen in order to preserve the valuable library collection.
Media Contact Person:
Press and Public Relations
Monika Lehner
Mittelweg 187
20148 Hamburg
Tel.: 040/41900-377
presse@mpipriv.de