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| Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Antiquity | |
|---|---|
| Name | Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Antiquity |
| Established | 1964 |
| Type | Research institute |
| Location | Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany |
| Parent | Max Planck Society |
Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Antiquity The Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Antiquity is a research institute in Frankfurt am Main specializing in the historical study of law and ancient societies. It conducts comparative and interdisciplinary research linking antiquity, medieval Europe, and modern legal traditions while engaging with international scholars and institutions. The institute combines expertise in classical studies, legal history, papyrology, Byzantine studies, Roman law, and comparative legal traditions.
The institute traces institutional roots to the postwar expansion of the Max Planck Society alongside related centers such as the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History and the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. Early influences included scholarship from figures associated with the University of Frankfurt and collaborations with the German Historical Institute and the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Founding periods overlapped with scholarly networks connected to the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies. Over decades the institute engaged with projects referencing sources held by the Vatican Library, the British Library, and the Library of Congress, while interacting with research programs at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, the University of Oxford, the Harvard University Department of Classics, and the Yale Law School. Institutional developments were shaped by funding patterns linked to the German Research Foundation and policy debates in the Bundestag and institutions like the German Academic Exchange Service.
Research themes have included Roman law and legal texts related to the Corpus Juris Civilis, papyrology involving documents from Oxyrhynchus, Byzantine legal compilations such as the Basilika, medieval canon law linked to the Decretum Gratiani, and comparative work on reception in the Napoleonic Code and Common law. Projects have studied legal pluralism in contexts from the Hellenistic period to the Holy Roman Empire and interactions with sources like the Dead Sea Scrolls for contextual legal history. The institute has led large projects addressing editorial work on the Codex Theodosianus, digital corpora comparable to initiatives at the Perseus Project, and collaborative archaeological-legal studies in partnership with teams from the British Museum, the Pergamon Museum, and the German Archaeological Institute. Research strands connect with scholars studying figures and texts such as Justinian I, Gaius (jurist), Ulpian, Papinian, Gratian, Thomas Aquinas, Bartolus de Saxoferrato, Hugo Grotius, and Immanuel Kant.
The institute is organized into departments and research groups mirroring disciplinary traditions found at the University of Bonn, the University of Munich, and the University of Cambridge. Departments have included sections analogous to Roman law, ancient legal cultures, and reception history that collaborate with chairs at the University of Heidelberg, the University of Leipzig, the University of Jena, and the Free University of Berlin. Administrative governance aligns with structures of the Max Planck Society and liaises with national entities like the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany). Visiting scholar programs attract fellows supported through connections with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the European Research Council, and the Fulbright Program.
Scholarly output includes monographs, edited volumes, and series comparable to the Journal of Roman Studies, the Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, and volumes in series like Monumenta Germaniae Historica and Classical Philology. The institute publishes research in venues associated with the Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, De Gruyter, and Brill Publishers. Editorial projects have produced critical editions and commentaries on texts associated with the Digest (Roman law), the Institutes of Justinian, papyrological editions paralleling work in the Année Philologique, and digital resources akin to the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae.
The institute maintains collaborations with universities and centers such as the University of Chicago, the Columbia University, the Princeton University, the University of California, Berkeley, the Stanford University, the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Pontifical Gregorian University, and the Scuola Normale Superiore. It engages in consortia with the Sackler Library, the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), and the École Normale Supérieure (Paris), and participates in European networks funded by the Horizon 2020 framework and projects with the European University Institute and the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society.
Facilities include specialized libraries and archives holding collections comparable to holdings at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, and the Senckenberg Library. The institute's collections emphasize papyrological holdings, codicological materials, and microfilm archives drawing on materials from the Vatican Secret Archives, the National Library of France (Bibliothèque nationale de France), and the Archivio di Stato di Venezia. Technical resources support digital humanities initiatives modeled on the Digital Classicist and include databases similar to the Kalliope authority file and the Regesta Imperii.
Directors and scholars associated through appointment or collaboration mirror prominent figures in the fields of legal history and classics, connected to names such as Theodor Mommsen, Friedrich Carl von Savigny, Heinrich Mitteis, Wolfgang Kunkel, Otto Brunner, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Ernst Kantorowicz, Günther Rehme, Alexander Demandt, Georges Duby, Carlo Ginzburg, Anthony Grafton, Peter Brown (historian), Mary Beard, Georges Canguilhem, Jean-François Maillard, Ludwig Mitteis, Raimond Gaita, Rüdiger Campe, Marcel Mauss, Paul Koschaker, Silvio Bärsch, Heinz Heinen, Andreas Kaplony, Olga Tellegen-Couperus, Wolfgang Schild, Claudia Rapp.