The overall research aim of the Institute is a systematic and comparative examination of foreign, European and international private law, commercial law, economic law and civil procedure inclusive of their neighbouring fields. Also constituting a part of this undertaking is the analysis of the methodological principles for comparative law analysis and legal harmonisation. From these overarching aims the Institute has developed a concrete research focus.
 
Europe is increasingly growing together. Social and economic interchange is expanding between all corners of the world. Legislators, judges, individual citizens and corporations are confronted, ever more often, with legal questions that can no longer be solved on a purely national level. In view of this, the Institute regards it as one of its essential tasks, within its area of expertise, to help to surmout the challenges arising from cross-border integration and the internationalisation of economic, social and legal relations.
 
Thematically, important civil and commercial law fields are representatively covered with concurrent focus dedicated to areas that are particularly vibrant, academically rich with respect to comparative law analysis and legal harmonisation, and in possession of long-term relevance for the advancement of the law. Within the context of European legal harmonisation, particular emphasis is placed, at present, on contract law and the law of non-contractual obligations; company law and the law concerning non-profit organisations, finance and capital market law; transportation and transportation industry law; insurance law and the law of credit securities; as well as competition law and conflict of laws.  Beyond Europe’s borders, the Institute’s efforts address, among others, corporate governance in the Europe-USA-Japan triad and the study of mixed legal systems.
 
Alongside comparative law’s inherent concern for domestic law, the Institute places emphasis on selecting for study legal regulations within spheres in which harmonisation is ongoing, within areas routinely having central prominence in comparative law studies on account of their economic and political significance, and within countries subject to unique legal, social and economic transformations. Across all legal fields, it is the harmonisation of private law in Europe that presently represents the Institute’s greatest area of work and emphasis.   In the context of world-wide comparative law analysis, the law of the USA and Japan also stand in the foreground along with significant European legal systems.  With regards to transforming jurisdictions, the nations of southeast Europe currently represent a particular regional research emphasis.  Given the rapidly expanding economic significance of East Asia, the countries of China, Korea and Japan are also subject to focus and emphasis.  Additionally, research emphasis is being dedicated to the further advancement of Islamic legal systems.
 
Concurrently, it is the Institute’s aim to establish a foundational comparative law competence at the global level through the broadest possible documentation of national legal systems and through a methodological approach which examines the constituent components of each system.  This represents not only the basis for project-related research and, most notably, the provision of legal opinions on difficult questions of international private law and foreign law on assignment of the German courts; rather, it also insures the “know-how” necessary for the completion of comparative law opinion papers and analyses that serve to advise national and international legislators working on significant legislative projects, as recently occurred in the field of prospectus and capital market disclosure liability.
 
Methodologically, the Institute’s research is characterised on inception by the use of multiple and complementary comparative law frames of reference that allow the same subject to be examined under different aspects from varying perspectives.  Along with the functional comparative law analysis that forms the core of all comparative studies, the methodology primarily addresses the historic-comparative perspective, the links between legal history and private law doctrine, and the (particularly for the European legal harmonisation project) indispensable systematic comparative law analysis between civil law and common law inclusive of the analysis of mixed legal systems.  Through these varying points of departure the Institute also hopes to make a contribution to the development of comparative law analysis and legal harmonisation as scientific methods.
 
Cooperation with foreign scholars and institutions as well as participation in multilateral networks is a significant element of every large-scale research project undertaken by the Institute.  Particularly diverse are the forms of cooperation and networking regarding the research focal point of European legal harmonisation. These efforts orient themselves on the purpose and approach of the respective research project and range from interdisciplinary collaboration by legal historians, legal theorists and comparative law experts – as in the projects “Rechtsgeschichte und Privatrechtsdogmatik” (Legal History and Private Law Doctrine) and “Rechtsgeschichte and Rechtsvergleichung (Legal History and Comparative Law) – to the study of key civil law and common law questions through “paired” linking of scholars from respective areas of legal expertise, to bilateral cooperation on national legal reform undertakings – as in the adaptation of Romanian and Bulgarian law to the acquis communautaire - and on to the broad networks and research groups such as the “Commission on European Contract Law”, the “Study Group on a European Civil Code” or the recently established “Joint Network on European Private Law”.
 
Supporting the next generation of scholars is regarded by the Institute as an integral endeavour and extends across all fields of activity. The Institute currently maintains approximately 35 positions for doctoral candidates and 16 positions for individuals completing a post-doctoral lecture qualification (Habilitation), sponsors the doctoral program for the International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs in conjunction with the University of Hamburg, and fosters the rising generation of foreign scholars through an extensive grant program. Additionally, the Institute promotes networks for future scholars through the organisation of international post-doctoral conferences.
 
Both independently and in collaboration with outside partners, the Institute publishes a large number of books and journals. Included therein are “Rabels Zeitschrift für ausländisches und internationals Privatrecht”, “Die deutsche Rechtsprechung auf dem Gebiete des Internationalen Privatrechts“, “Zeitschrift für Japanisches Recht“, Zeitschrift für Chinesisches Recht“, „European Business Organisation Law Review“, „Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht (ZEuP)“, „Hamburg Studies of Maritime Affairs“ and the „International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law“.
 
Serving as the most essential instrument of scholarly research, the Institute boasts a library presently comprising approximately 460,000 volumes and representing Europe’s most comprehensive collection of its kind. The library additionally holds subscriptions to roughly 1,900 ongoing scholarly journals.

• Last update: 30 Jun. 2011
• Top