by Claudia Holland, Head of the Library, Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg, Germany
The Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law: 100 Years of Thinking Ahead
From globalization to gender equality, much of what shapes today’s legal world has been anticipated and reflected upon at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law. For 100 years, researchers at the Institute have sought legal answers to social and economic developments arising around the world. Like an early warning system, they foresee future legal challenges and lay the foundations for the ongoing development of the law.
Hamburg, 1 April 2026
Tucked away on Mittelweg, not far from the Außenalster and unnoticed by many, there is a global hotspot of legal scholarship. It is the workplace of researchers from around the world. The subterranean library is the largest of its kind and attracts hundreds of scholars annually from Germany and abroad. In 1956, the Institute became the first Max Planck institute to be established in Hamburg. Initially founded in 1926 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Foreign and International Private Law in the Berlin Palace, it is now one of eight Max Planck institutes dedicated to legal research.
Cutting edge legal research and knowledge transfer from the start
Since its founding, the Institute has pursued the mission of researching the private law of other countries and determining paths for legal development based on a comparative analysis of legal systems. It is also dedicated to private international law (PIL), which deals with the legal treatment of cross-border matters. In addition to its research activities, the Institute provides expert opinions to courts on foreign law and advises both the German legislature as well as international lawmaking bodies.
The founding director was Ernst Rabel, a pioneer of comparative law who had already earned an international reputation as an exceptional scholar. He transformed the Berlin Institute into a centre of research and an incubator for talent. Within a few years, it became a leading international hub in the field of PIL. Rabel is widely regarded as one of the most significant jurists of the 20th century, largely due to his formative influence on the Hague Sales Convention of 1964 and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) of 1980.
The Institute from 1933 to 1945
From 1933 onward, several institute staff members were expelled under the Nazi regime’s racial laws. Among them was Ernst Rabel, who was forced to resign in 1937 and who emigrated to the United States in 1939. His successor, Ernst Heymann, increasingly oriented the Institute toward National Socialist themes. From 1939, he sought to position the Institute as strategically important to the war effort through expert opinions and studies on occupied territories. In 1944, the Institute was evacuated to Tübingen, enabling the preservation of its extensive library.
Integration into the Max Planck Society and relocation to Hamburg
Hans Dölle, who had temporarily assumed leadership in 1945, was appointed director in 1949 despite his prior associations with the Nazi regime. That same year, the Institute joined the newly founded Max Planck Society (MPG). In Tübingen, the Institute rebuilt itself and reconnected with international research. On Dölle’s initiative, the move to Hamburg was completed in 1956. The Hanseatic city actively campaigned for the relocation, providing the land and financing the construction of the new building.
Shifting research fields
The MPG, as a personality-centred research organization, continues in the tradition of its predecessor, the Kaiser Wilhelm Society. In accord with the founding Harnack Principle, which has been upheld until today, individual institutes are organized around leading researchers who enjoy broad autonomy and freedom of design. Accordingly, the directors and their respective research focuses have always shaped the Hamburg Institute’s development.
Under Hans Dölle’s leadership, family law became a central focus in the postwar decades. In 1963, Konrad Zweigert, a former Federal Constitutional Court judge, advanced the Institute’s internationalization. In 1979, a collegium of three directors was appointed for the first time: Ulrich Drobnig, Hein Kötz, and Ernst-Joachim Mestmäcker. They introduced new research priorities in foreign and international economic and commercial law, competition law, and the law of international telecommunications. The harmonization of European private law, the legal systems of Central and Eastern Europe, and international civil procedure took on increasing importance. In subsequent decades, Klaus J. Hopt further developed the field of business law, introducing new emphases in company law and banking and capital markets law. Jürgen Basedow strengthened research in European private law and conflict of laws, while Reinhard Zimmermann expanded comparative law, giving it a historical dimension.
With Anne Röthel’s 2024 appointment alongside Holger Fleischer and Ralf Michaels, the Institute is again led by a trio of directors. New research areas—such as law and economics, sustainability, decolonial comparative law, global legal pluralism, and the law of the person, family, and private life—have brought unprecedented diversity to the Institute’s research agenda. Aware that solving current legal challenges often requires perspectives beyond law, the Institute continues to expand its long-standing interdisciplinary approach. Most recently, the newly launched research group “Artificial Justice” has begun exploring the role of artificial intelligence in judicial decision-making.
Since its inception, the Institute has pursued a long-term analysis of foreign law. Today, dedicated centres of expertise for Africa, China, Japan, Korea, Latin America, and Turkey conduct in-depth research into the legal systems of these countries and regions. A dedicated research group also focuses on the development of Islamic legal systems.
Supporting young scholars and international networking
Academic curiosity and global connectivity define the Institute’s environment today. Its fundamental research resonates far beyond the academic world. Close ties exist with the German and international community of scholars, judges, and practitioners. Cooperation agreements, exchange programs, varied events, scholarship programs, and the library’s guest program bring researchers from around the world to the Institute.
The tradition of talent development, central since the Institute’s founding, remains of high importance. The careers of staff members who completed their doctorates or habilitations here are diverse and international. Many now hold professorships in Germany and abroad. With a view to the past, the present, and the future, we are proudly celebrating the Institute’s 100th anniversary with an array of events: https://www.mpipriv.de/100years
This Blog contains entries by members of the International Association of Law Libraries on issues germane to the Association’s areas of focus. Views expressed in an individual entry only represent the views of the author, and not those of the International Association of Law Libraries or the author’s employer.