Honorary doctorate from the University of Chile for Reinhard Zimmermann

On 7 December 2022, the Law Faculty of the University of Chile awarded the title of Doctor honoris causa to Reinhard Zimmermann, Director Emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law. The honour was bestowed in recognition of Zimmermann’s lifelong academic work and his far-reaching influence on legal scholarship in Latin America and Chile.

Founded in 1842 and located in Santiago, the Universidad de Chile is the largest and oldest university in Chile. The citation of the award singled out Zimmermann’s pioneering work, “The Law of Obligations. Roman Foundations of the Civilian Tradition”. As explained by the Law Faculty, the monumental 1990 monograph made the broad historical and comparative context of the European legal tradition accessible to an English-speaking readership. Zimmermann’s research was seen as having significantly contributed to the harmonization process in continental European legal circles, which also encompass the nations of Latin American, as well as in common law legal systems. Furthermore, the honour recognized Zimmermann’s efforts to support generations of young legal scholars.

The award ceremony took place in the Aula Magna of the Law Faculty of the University of Chile. In his keynote address, Zimmermann described his historical-comparative research on forced heirship and assessed the existing rules in Europe and Chile.

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Reinhard Zimmermann studied law at the University of Hamburg, where he earned his doctorate in 1978. In 1981 he was appointed as the W.P. Schreiner Professor of Roman Law and Comparative Law at the University of Cape Town. From 1988 to 2002 he held the Chair for Civil Law, Roman Law and Comparative Legal History at the University of Regensburg. In 1996 he was awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize as bestowed by the German Research Foundation. His array of publications includes 25 stand-alone works and more than 300 articles, many of which have been translated into Spanish. In 2002 he was appointed as Director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law and has since October 2022 been Director Emeritus. He has been the President of the German National Academic Foundation since 2011. The title awarded by the Law Faculty at the University of Chile is his eleventh honorary doctorate.