Reinhard Zimmermann awarded Dr. Günther Buch Prize
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.
With the accolade, the foundation is recognizing the exceptional accomplishments of Zimmermann in the field of legal scholarship as an innovator of historical-comparative methodology and as a pioneer in the Europeanization of private law; also recognized are his efforts in mentoring young scholars and fostering interdisciplinary excellence, intellectual freedom, and social responsibility.
“Reinhard Zimmermann stands – simultaneously – for both continual innovation as well as tradition. This combination has borne rich fruit. Reinhard Zimmermann is being honoured with the Johanna and Fritz Buch Memorial Foundation’s 2025 Dr. Günther Buch Prize for his outstanding achievements in the field of legal research and for his special services to the advancement of scholarship. Promoting young talent is a central concern for Zimmermann. Observers marvel at his exceptional research, his many successes in multiple areas of education and science management, and the numerous and extraordinary academic honours he has received," said Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Heinz-Peter Mansel, Director of the Institute for Private International and Comparative Law at the University of Cologne, in his laudatory speech.
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Reinhard Zimmermann studied law at the University of Hamburg. 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. He has been guest professor at numerous universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Chicago, Auckland, and Santiago de Chile. His work has found global resonance, as testified to by the eleven honorary doctorates he has received to date from notable universities such as Edinburgh, Lund, Maastricht, McGill and Chicago. In 2002 he was appointed Director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law and has since October 2022 been Director Emeritus. He has, in addition, been an affiliated professor at Bucerius Law School since 2008. From 2011 to 2023 Zimmermann was President of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation. In 1996 he was awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize as bestowed by the German Research Foundation. In 2023 he received the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize, considered Italy’s most important tribute for accomplishments in scholarship and culture. Zimmermann was awarded Germany’s Federal Cross of Merit First Class in 2024.