Timeline of the Institute's History

1926
1 April
The Institute of Foreign and International Private Law opens at the Berlin Palace under the aegis of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society.
1927
Spring
The first issue of the Journal of Foreign and International Private Law is published.
1937
15 February
Under duress from the Nazi regime, Rabel resigns as director at the Institute.
1944
17 March
In an effort to spare the Institute’s library from destruction amid air raids on Berlin, two fellows at the Institute, Hans Rupp and Konrad Zweigert, send the whole collection to Tübingen, where the Institute is provisionally quartered in a fraternity house.
1956
29 October
The recently relocated Institute celebrates the dedication of its premises on Mittelweg in Hamburg.
1965
7 September
Work begins on the International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, a major project initiated by Konrad Zweigert, who had been appointed director at the Institute in 1963, together with later Institute director Ulrich Drobnig.
1969
28 January
Publication of the first issue of TRANSPO.
1978
17 March
Ulrich Drobnig, Hein Kötz, and Ernst-Joachim Mestmäcker are appointed as Institute directors.
1985
15 September
With the growth of Japan as an economic power, the Institute establishes a “country desk” dedicated to Japanese law.
2001
17–18 September
The Institute holds a conference to celebrate its 75th anniversary.
2009
1 April
The research group “Changes in God’s Law” is established at the Institute.
2020
7 February
A team of 30 researchers submits a comparative international study on early marriage practices to the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.
2026
1–2 October
The Institute celebrates its centenary with the symposium “Thinking Ahead in Private Law.”
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