Prof. Dr. Reinhard Zimmermann receives honorary doctorate from Stellenbosch University
23.03.2009
Professor Dr. Reinhard Zimmermann, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg has been awarded an honorary doctorate from Stellenbosch University in South Africa. In conferring the honour, the university noted Zimmermann's groundbreaking research on the Roman-Dutch legal tradition in South Africa and the resulting inclusion of South African legal scholarship in respect of international comparative law research. "Although the differences between the Continental European and Anglo-American legal families are traditionally regarded as virtually irreconcilable, Zimmermann appreciated that legal science could use historical and comparative methods to reveal greater communalities between these families and thereby contribute to their understanding and development, particularly in countries such as South Africa, where they had become mixed with each other and harmonised over a period of more than two centuries."From 1981 to 1988 Professor Zimmermann held the chair for Roman Law and Comparative Law at the University of Cape Town. A close relationship with Stellenbosch University deveoped during this time and remained following his acceptance of a professorship in Regensburg as well as his later relocation to Hamburg. Among his achievements in Cape Town, Zimmermann served as dean of his law faculty and as president of the Society of South African Teachers of Law. He advocated continually for academic freedom, freedom of opinion and the reestablishment of constitutional rule. In 1986 he resigned his position as president in protest against the former government’s efforts to infringe upon the autonomy of universities.
Stellenbosch University lies in the heart of the Western Cape winelands, approximately 50 kilometers from Cape Town, and is considered one of the top universities in South Africa. With more than 23,000 students, 10 faculties and some 50 research and service bodies, it is currently meeting the challenges of supporting social change in South Africa and simultaneously developing an outstanding international research profile. Many of South Africa's leading jurists have studied at the law faculty of Stellenbosch.