Review article
https://doi.org/10.31141/zrpfs.2018.55.129.529
Legal historical and theoretical Eastern Europe research in the Max- Planck-Institute for European legal history (Max-Planck-Institut für europäische Rechtsgeschichte)
Zoran Pokrovac
; Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Splitu, Split, Hrvatska
Abstract
This text shows the long and successful tradition of legal historical and theoretical Eastern European research in the Max-Planck-Institute for European legal history in Frankfurt am Main.
Eastern Europe had already been appropriately represented in one of the Institute’s largest undertakings in the Source and Literature of the newer European History of Private Law Handbook (Handbuch der Quellen und Literatur der neueren europäischen Privatrechtsgeschichte) published since 1973. With the fall of socialism, the Institute in 1994 reacted with a significant project entitled Implementation of Norms in Eastern European post war societies 1944/1989. (Normdurchsetzung in den osteuropäischen Nachkriegsgesellschaften 1994/ 1989). Its core comprised long term historical processes from 1944 to 1989 which hindered the wave of modernisation after 1990. By focusing on the implementation of norms, an attempt was made to overrule on what till then in legislation and legal history legal Eastern European research had focused and to more strongly take into consideration further legal participants, in particular courts and judges.
Eastern Europe is represented in three volumes in the research results of the project entitled European Dictatorship: control of the economy and law (Das Europa der Diktatur: Wirtschaftskontrolle und Recht). It is also represented in the project entitled Lawyers: biographical lexicon from ancient times to the 20th century – legal journals in Europe (Juristische Zeitschriften in Europa), At the big round of Eastern expansion of the European Union, the Institute in 2004 responded many a several year long, international significant project entitled Legal Cultures of modern Eastern Europe, Traditions and Transfers (Rechtskulturen des modernen Osteuropa. Traditionen und Transfers). Pre-sentiment seemed to be founded, what was founded seemed to be the presumption that the paradigm of organic growth of law in the case of Eastern Europe should be replaced by observing leaps and transfers, impositions and interference, fast changes and syntheses. A substantial foundation for becoming acquainted with legal cultural identities and differences between the East and the West occurred as a result.
In 2006 a smaller project entitled Coexistence and Conflict: legal organisation of South Eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries (Koexistenz und Konflikt: Die Rechtsordnungen Südosteuropas im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert) was planned, as a continuation. It was not carried out to the extent it was planned initially. However, because of this, some of its topics are still a research challenge. Since 2014, the handbook entitled Extra-court and Court Solutions for resolving Conflict (Außergerichtliche und gerichtliche Konfliktlösung. Handbuch zur Geschichte der Konfliktlösung) has been published in which contributions from Eastern Europe will be published. For the oldest epoch of Eastern European legal history, the decade long research into Byzantine law is most important. If we refer backwards, it can be said that Eastern Europe profited greatly from this, that the Max-Planck-Institute for European legal history from its very inception was defined as an anti-thesis to traditional European legal history. That means, legal history is no longer considered as exclusively or mostly national or state history.
Keywords
Max-Planck-Institute for European Legal History; European Legal History research; Eastern European research; South East European research
Hrčak ID:
206343
URI
Publication date:
3.10.2018.
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