Also included in the research focus of the Institute is the further development of the research methodology to be applied in our areas of inquiry. Since the founding of the Institute, the methodological approaches employed in comparative law have in particular repeatedly been the subject of scholarly analysis. It was the very first director of the Institute, Ernst Rabel, who focused upon the development of comparative law methodology and who is counted among the founders of modern comparative law in Germany. Additionally, Zweigert and Kötz’s “Einführung in die Rechtsvergleichung” („An Introduction to Comparative Law“) has become a global standard in the field of comparative law, having been repeatedly published within Germany and further translated into seven languages since its initial release.
The dynamic development of comparative law in the last decades simultaneously calls for its critical appraisal. A comprehensive, state of the art survey of comparative law is now offered by „The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law“, edited by Reinhard Zimmermann of the Institute and Mathias Reimann. This work traces the development of the comparative law studies in various nations in and outside of Europe and analyses the approaches and methods with which comparative law analysis can be undertaken. Further sections of the text detail how comparative law has promoted the development of particular areas of law and suggest just what working agenda comparative law might assume in the future. Taken as a whole, the forty-two chapters of the book authored by scholars hailing from 12 different countries are intended to comprise both an international reference work and a representation of the different perspectives currently found on comparative law.
The advancement of research methodology also entails examining the extent to which linking different scholastic approaches may be fruitful. The combination of Rechtsgeschichte und Rechtsdogmatik (Legal History and Legal Doctrine) shows how deeply history can be engrained in current legal questions and the degree to which legal-historic insight can further our understanding of presently applicable law. The same is true of the project Rechtsgeschichte und Rechtsvergleichung (Legal History and Comparative Law). As realised in new and ongoing Institute research projects, the experiences and insight gained from the two previous symposia on these topics represent a measure of the value derived from linking various legal approaches in scholarly inquiry.
Harmonisation of European Private and Economic Law - On the Road to a European Jurisprudence
Individual Research Projects in the Fields of European Private and Economic Law