Max Planck Encyclopaedia of European Private Law
One of the major projects of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law is the publication of the Max Planck Encyclopaedia of European Private Law by Oxford University Press. In September 2009, Mohr Siebeck published a German version, and the release of the English version is expected for 2011. The authors include current and former Institute directors, Institute research fellows and external scholars writing in their respective fields of expertise.
Legislation of the European Union in the field of private law continues to be driven by political expedience rather than a comprehensive systematic approach. Consequently, legal scholarship must strive to capture European private law in its entirety including the historical and comparative dimensions in order to provide a solid foundation for a subsequent systematization. The Max Planck Encyclopaedia of European Private Law aims at providing such a foundation. Presently, existing knowledge in many areas of European Private Law can be found only in relatively inaccessible specialized literature, and some areas, moreover, completely lack systematic legal research. The Encyclopaedia will comprehensively structure this body of knowledge and make it available to scholars of private law worldwide. The endeavour builds upon wide-ranging private law research previously undertaken by current Max Planck Institute directors Jürgen Basedow and Reinhard Zimmermann as well as director emeritus Klaus Hopt. The Encyclopaedia will consist of close to 500 keyword entries presented in alphabetical order. Each entry will cover the subject matter with regard to its legal history, the comparative law dimension and the emergence of harmonized and uniform law.
The Max Planck Encyclopaedia is under the editorial supervision of Andreas Stier at the Institute. The project is being financially supported by the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung.