News and Notices

of the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory

List is filtered with:

reset filter
Unveiling Historical Bonds

In his recent blog article ‚Migration and trade: two sides of the same coin?‘, Thomas Duve delves into the historical intertwining of migration and trade, drawing on the insights of the School of Salamanca and its significant figures like Domingo de Soto. He shows how theologians and philosophers of the time advocated for the free movement of goods and people based on the ius gentium. more

Bridging Nations

Bridging Nations

February 23, 2024

Parliamentary democracy has long been cited as one of the key legal inheritances of the British Empire in its former colonies, but this can obscure our view of the cross-fertilisation of ideas of law, democracy and sovereignty between different British colonies. In this interview, Martin O’Donoghue explains why comparing a small island nation to a subcontinent will yield important insights. more

Legal history meets carnival in Rio

Legal history and the Rio carnival might seem worlds apart. Yet, this year the Portela Samba school seamlessly wove Rio's long-silenced slavery legacy together with the story of 19th-century lawyer Luiz Gama, whose work freeing hundreds of enslaved people is now being appreciated thanks to the research of our scholar Bruno Lima. more

The gradual suppression of the slave trade in the 19<sup>th</sup> century

The treaties for the suppression of the slave trade were the subject of intense legal battles and debates in the first half of the 19th century. Adriane Sanctis de Brito’s book examines the legal disputes that took place within the context of the Anglo-Brazilian treaty by focusing on the political importance of the rules and proceedings regarding the search and capture of ships in the Atlantic Ocean. more

Navigating Common Law Complexity

In our upcoming Max Planck Lecture in Legal History and Legal Theory, Shivprasad Swaminathan (Dean-Designate, Shiv Nadar School of Law) delves into the theoretical foundations of the common law, drawing inspiration from Michael Polanyi's concept of polycentricity. more

mpilhlt part of new Frankfurt Alliance science network

The mpilhlt is a member of the Frankfurt Alliance, a new science network that brings together 16 renowned institutions from the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region. The alliance aims to intensify cooperation and create synergies between research institutions.  more

Diversity and law

Diversity and law

January 25, 2024

Modern law is based on the principle of equality. In today’s highly differentiated societies with their diversity of identities, however, the legal postulate of equality sometimes reaches its limits. The contributions to this edited volume explore the potential tensions between equality and diversity in law in Europe and Latin America between 1800 and the present day. Using a comparative approach, its authors ask what social differences were and/or are of relevance to the law in these countries and regions. more

Unlocking China's Political Diversity

The research project "China – Norms, Ideas, Practices", conducted by the Department Historical Regimes of Normativity (Thomas Duve) in collaboration with the Max Weber Foundation and the Werner Reimers Foundation, opens a window to this intellectual scene. The project translates selected texts by contemporary Chinese authors into German and publishes them with introductory comments. more

From European Legal History to Global Legal History

The department ‘Historical Regimes of Normativity’ (Thomas Duve) has restructured its research profile. The well-established research fields ‘Special Legal Orders’ and ‘Doing Legal History’ will be accompanied by new research fields that concentrate on three specific aspects of the history of law: the production and the glocalization of knowledge of normativity and knowledge of normativity from the sphere of the religious. (...) more

CfA: Max Planck Summer Academy for Legal History 2024

We are inviting highly motivated early-stage research students, primarily PhD candidates, to apply for the Max Planck Summer Academy for Legal History 2024. This immersive program, scheduled from July 8 to July 19, 2024, offers a unique opportunity for participants to delve into both traditional and contemporary approaches in legal history. This year’s theme: The mediality and materiality of law. more

Marietta Auer elected member of the Leopoldina

The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina has elected Marietta Auer, Managing Director and head of the department Multidisciplinary Theory of Law, as a member. Membership in the Leopoldina is an award for outstanding scientific achievements. The National Academy of Sciences assumes two vital roles: serving as a global representative of German science and offering counsel to policymakers and the public. more

EU's Impact on International Law Development

Teresa Vieira da Silva Cabrita delves into the narrative of the EU's distinctive role in international law development, originating from Article 3(5) of the Treaty on European Union and rooted in the 1970s and 1980s. Her project explores this narrative through three lenses: the constitutional perspective of Member State delegations, the judicial perspective of individual judges, and the international perspective of EU lawyers at global organizations. more

The Language of Ordoliberalism and European Competition Law

Anselm Küster’s innovative study shines a light on the ordoliberal school of competition thought as a distinctive linguistic community whose conceptual and semantic influence extended far beyond the borders of Germany and contributed decisively to the shaping of European competition law. The negotiations on the founding treaties of the European Community were still marked by diverse normative notions of what competition is and what role it should play. However, the scholarly discourse as well as the decisions by the European Commission and the verdicts by the European Courts definitely carried the imprint of ordoliberalism, the competition concept promoted by the Freiburg School. more

Lauren Benton and Thomas Duve

The American Society for Legal History has named Thomas Duve an Honorary Fellow – its highest distinction. The Society recognises outstanding scholars whose research has shaped the broad discipline of legal history and influenced the work of others. The Society honors Thomas Duve as an erudite and seemingly indefatigable historian who created new institutions and ways to promote the next generation of legal historians on a transnational level. more

Common Law Dynamics

Common Law Dynamics

October 10, 2023

Martin O'Donoghue's research project dissects the interplay between British colonial governance and the indigenous legal systems of Ireland and India. By analyzing the intricacies of parliamentary structures, legislative relationships, and the essence of popular sovereignty, he seeks to unveil the layers of constitutional evolution in the post-colonial landscape, shedding new light on the enduring significance of the Westminster model amidst the ebb and flow of changing socio-political landscapes. more

Show more
Go to Editor View