Cooperations

Cooperations

Projects and cooperative efforts that are undertaken with domestic and international partners allow the Institute regularly to explore and fashion new paths in research and international exchange. Inside of Hamburg a close academic relation exists with both the University of Hamburg and the Bucerius Law School; internationally, cooperative programs have been formally established at the institutional level with the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Kyoto.

University of Cambridge

Since 2004 the Institute has been cooperating with the University of Cambridge. Each year two members of the Institute can spend one term (8 weeks) at the law faculty. In accord with their academic interests, the participants are associated with one of the legal centres (international law, European law and comparison of laws, corporate law). In addition to the law faculty, the exchange is supported by Wolfson College. Correspondingly, the Institute serves as a host for one or two Cambridge scholars.

Coordinator of the exchange is Felix Steffek, Co-Director des Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law (3CL).

University of Kyōto

The Hamburg Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law and the Faculty of Law at the University of Kyōto have finalised an academic exchange agreement. The agreement will formalise the close scholarly relationship that has existed for decades between the Max Planck Institute and the premier Japanese university. The aims of the academic partnership are twofold: First, to promote a regular exchange of scholars who are engaged at each institution, especially junior scholars, and second, to intensify cooperative efforts on targeted projects. Guest scholars will be afforded full freedom of research during their stay while also being invited to partake in the academic life of the partner institution. Alongside agreements already in place with the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, this represents the third large-scale cooperation between the Max Planck Institute for Private Law and an elite university.

The University of Kyoto ranks among Japan’s top universities. Its law faculty has for many years placed considerable focus on German law. Above all, this is the result of the influence German law had on the formation of modern Japanese civil law, a process which began in the closing years of the 19th century. At the Max Planck Institute for Private Law, the examination and comparison of disparate legal systems and their harmonisation numbers among its central scholarly aims. The significance of the cooperation for the MPI was emphasised by Ruth Effinowicz, Senior Research Fellow responsible for the Institute’s Japan Unit. Noting that Japan continues to represent the world’s second largest economy and must, like Germany, overcome the mounting challenges of globalisation, Dr Baum expressed certainty that the cooperation with one of Japan’s premier universities would prove an exceptional catalyst for research the Institute conducts in civil law fields such as commercial law, corporate law and financial law.

The Japan Unit at the Max Planck Institute for Private Law in Hamburg is one of Europe’s most important centers for legal and comparative law analysis in respect of Japanese Civil Law, Commercial Law and Economic Law. Furthermore, it has since 1996 been responsible for publication of the only ongoing journal which addresses Japanese law in western languages.

University of Oxford

In summer 2007 the Institute concluded an agreement setting up an academic exchange with the University of Oxford. Each academic year, the ongoing exchange will allow two academic members of the Institute to pursue research at the law faculty for a trimester. On behalf of the University of Oxford the exchange is organized by the Institute of European and Comparative Law (Matthew Dyson). Additionally, the exchange programme is supported by the St. Catherine’s College, Oxford. In return, graduates and members of the Oxford faculty have the opportunity to visit the Institute and conduct research.

 


Images:

King's College, University of Cambridge: © Flickr/Roman Boed

Christ Church, St Aldate's, University of Oxford: © Pixabay/Marlon Rondal

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