Current News

The Institute first published the Hamburger Leitlinien für die Ermittlung und Anwendung ausländischen Rechts in deutschen Verfahren in 2023. This guide is now available in English as the Hamburg Guidelines for Ascertaining and Applying Foreign Law in German Litigation (the Hamburg Guidelines). Along with the English edition, the Institute has also issued a revised German edition of the guidelines. Both versions are available in print and online, free of charge. more

Together with the German-Japanese Association of Jurists (DJJV), the Australian Network for Japanese Law (ANJeL), and the Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, the Institute hosted a conference titled “1985–2025: 40 Years of Research on Japanese Law at the MPI. Time to Add New Voices” from 13 to 15 November 2025. The conference featured the participation of speakers from numerous Asian countries and addressed the role and relevance of Japanese law in the region.  more

On 19 November 2025, Reinhard Zimmermann, Director Emeritus at the Institute, received the 2025 Dr. Günther Buch Prize for outstanding achievement in the humanities as conferred by the Johanna and Fritz Buch Memorial Foundation. The award ceremony took place at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. more

On 6 November 2025, Maryam Blumenthal, Senator for Science, Research, and Equality of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, made her first official visit to the Institute. Discussions focused on current Institute research projects, the importance of science communication, and the Institute’s upcoming 100th anniversary. more

Denise Wiedemann, senior research fellow and head of the Institute’s Centre of Expertise on Latin America successfully completed her post-doctoral studies (Habilitation) at Bucerius Law School in the 2025 Fall Trimester. She was awarded her lecture qualification for the subjects of civil law, private international law, civil procedure law, and comparative law. more

The German Association for Intellectual Property Law (GRUR) has honoured Pascal T. Sierek, research fellow at the Institute, for his dissertation “Datenaustausch durch Datentreuhand” [Data Sharing through Data Trustees] in the prize category of data and information law. more

Private international law, European private law, uniform law – these were the three major legal fields in which former Institute Director Jürgen Basedow focused his efforts prior to his death in 2023. A commemorative symposium addressing these topics was held in 2024 by his academic pupils. The papers from that symposium have been published in the new issue of the Rabel Journal of Comparative and International Private Law (RabelsZ). more