Welcome to the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory

Welcome to the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory

We provide a forum for reflecting on law.
We explore its theory and history in a comparative and global perspective.
We address societal challenges by contributing to a deeper understanding of law.
Multidisciplinary Theory of Law
Department Marietta Auer
Historical Regimes of Normativity
Department Thomas Duve
European and Comparative Legal History
Department Stefan Vogenauer

News

Legal Theory in Colonial India and Mandatory Palestine
Our next lecture of the Frankfurter Rechtshistorische Abendgespräche will focus on a central but often overlooked aspect of the history and theory of law: The development of legal theory in colonial India and Mandatory Palestine. Assaf Likhovski (Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law) will challenge the Eurocentric focus prevalent in current narratives of the history of modern legal theory and offer a broader perspective on the global development of legal thought.
Open House at Max Planck Law
Max Planck Law is a network of nine Max Planck Institutes across Germany, dedicated to a wide array of legal research from the anthropology of law to tax law. On May 7 at 4 pm, it will host an Open House event online, designed for early career researchers in law. This 45-minute session will provide an opportunity for participants to engage with one another, share ideas, and pose questions in a professional environment.
CfA: Max Planck-ASLH Dissertation Prize for European Legal History in Global Perspective
mpilhlt and the American Society for Legal History (ASLH) are pleased to announce a new dissertation prize. It will honour outstanding dissertations on topics in European legal history in global perspective, presented for PhD or JSD degrees awarded in the previous calendar year.  Topics may include European legal interactions with people or places outside Europe, legal processes spanning Europe and other regions of the world, and developments in legal theory closely linked to imperial, transnational or trans-regional trends. The deadline for submissions is 1 June 2024.
Cover Rechtsgeschichte – Legal History 31 (2023)
Cover Studien zur Rechtstheorie – Band 001, Norberto Bobbio
Cover Global Perspectives on Legal History – Band 22, Seeking Capture, Resisting Seizure
Cover Studien zur europäischen Rechtsgeschichte - Band 346, Otto Hintze
Cover SSRN Paper 2023-13 - Dote / Dowry (DCH)
Cover Studien zur europäischen Rechtsgeschichte - Band 342, Michael Stolleis – zum Gedenken
Cover Max Planck Studies in Global Legal History of the Iberian Worlds - Band 4, The Production of Knowledge of Normativity in the Age of the Printing Press
Cover Studien zur europäischen Rechtsgeschichte - Band 337, Legal Pluralism and Social Change in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages
Cover Global Perspectives on Legal History – Band 21, Law and Diversity
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