In cooperation with the ECtHR, the British Supreme Court and the Federal Constitutional Court, the research focus on the fair trial guarantee and the rule of law-based court constitution lies on the historical foundations of Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 ECHR. Due to the origins of the legally competent ordinary judge far earlier than the advent of 19th century-liberalism, the judiciary’s independence as constituted power requires the statutory establishment of courts as well as the impartial allocation of cases and composition of benches. This needs to be backed by the functional judicial independence that "justice [has] not only … to be done, but manifestedly seen to be done" (per Lord Hewart in R v Sussex Justices, ex parte McCarthy ([1924] 1 KB 256, [1923] All ER Rep 233). Research completed in this area has been disseminated by the supervised dissertation “Das Rechts- und Richterbild im Attischen Recht am Beispiel des Sokratischen Prozesses” (='The image of the law and the judge in Attic law as exemplified by the Socratic process) as well as the PI’s ebook “Reason and Fairness”, and many contributions to leading international encyclopaedias (as in the Oxford Handbook of European Legal History, edited by H. Pihlajamäki, M. D. Dubber, and M. Godfrey, Oxford 2018, chapt. 30, 678-704).
In cooperation with the ECtHR, the British Supreme Court and the Federal Constitutional Court, the research focus on the fair trial guarantee and the rule of law-based court constitution lies on the historical foundations of Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 ECHR. Due to the origins of the legally competent ordinary judge far earlier than the advent of 19th century-liberalism, the judiciary’s independence as constituted power requires the statutory establishment of courts as well as the impartial allocation of cases and composition of benches. This needs to be backed by the functional judicial independence that "justice [has] not only … to be done, but manifestedly seen to be done" (per Lord Hewart in R v Sussex Justices, ex parte McCarthy ([1924] 1 KB 256, [1923] All ER Rep 233). Research completed in this area has been disseminated by the supervised dissertation “Das Rechts- und Richterbild im Attischen Recht am Beispiel des Sokratischen Prozesses” (='The image of the law and the judge in Attic law as exemplified by the Socratic process) as well as the PI’s ebook “Reason and Fairness”, and many contributions to leading international encyclopaedias (as in the Oxford Handbook of European Legal History, edited by H. Pihlajamäki, M. D. Dubber, and M. Godfrey, Oxford 2018, chapt. 30, 678-704).
The research focus European constitution-making aims to stimulate a new European Constitutional Convention. Building on the results of ReConFort (ReConfort I and ReconFort II), the European citizens’ identification their possibilities of self-determination may foster such a process in the member states’ national discourses: such a "resonance" (Hartmut Rosa) is the backbone of the member states’ democracies; any democracy runs the risk of totalitarian degeneration if too many shift their own responsibility to a majority, a collective, a party, a church and potential answer to challenges become ideologised and thereby removed from the democratic dispute. This non-exclusivity between democracy and totalitarianism applies in both ways: mass self-empowerment can open up democratic spaces even under totalitarian oppression, as the Polish people have managed from 1980 onwards. The erosive effect of the Polish Solidarność on the former communist Eastern bloc was ventilated by the combination "No freedom without solidarity" (Nie ma wolności bez Solidarności); this still accompanied Poland's transformation into a parliamentary democracy at the Round Table and inspired the PI’s visiting professorship in Gdańsk in October 2024.
In a further research phase, the comparative study of historical constitutions (cf. https://www.reconfort.uni-passau.de, currently in the process of long-term archiving by the BSB) will reveal “people”, “nation” or “state” as only "imagined" variables and constituting sovereignty’s points of references. Such a source-based state-theoretical "transcendence" in turn requires the "imagined" identification with the abstract reference points of constituting and constituted sovereignty. This leads to the conclusion that democracy needs the differentiation between civil society and constituted people. If anybody argues for a real, full identity of civil society with "the" state, this can be nothing else than an ideologising assertion; total social unity can only by achieved by eliminating any kind of “others” ("enemies of the people" in National Socialism, "counter-revolutionaries" in Stalinism, "dissidents" in socialism or all kinds of other "dissenters"). Ultimately, both research challenges of European constitution-making, result in an anewed old liberty-understanding as freedom for (instead of the freedom from-accent of liberalism), which is the underlying tone of the Solidarność slogan "No freedom without solidarity", and aims at scientifically deciphering the current sacralisation of nation, state and fatherland (be it through great again-fantasies, racist exaggerations or illiberal exclusivity).
The research focus on human dignity in past and present concentrates on proving that dignity is not, in and of itself, a legal concept, even though its codified prominence after 1945 was meant to ban any further Nazi barbarism. After reexamining such a belated constitutionalisation, the chair's most recent research project tackles with the instrumentalisation of universalism (‘of all people or of man’); this addresses the misuse of the Kantianised post-war dignity (man as an end in himself) for the current solipsistic deformation of liberalism, ignoring the ethymological link between freedom and belonging to the people and thereby sacrifying all solidarity to an ego of freedom.
The research focus European constitution-making aims to stimulate a new European Constitutional Convention. Building on the results of ReConFort (ReConfort I and ReconFort II), the European citizens’ identification their possibilities of self-determination may foster such a process in the member states’ national discourses: such a "resonance" (Hartmut Rosa) is the backbone of the member states’ democracies; any democracy runs the risk of totalitarian degeneration if too many shift their own responsibility to a majority, a collective, a party, a church and potential answer to challenges become ideologised and thereby removed from the democratic dispute. This non-exclusivity between democracy and totalitarianism applies in both ways: mass self-empowerment can open up democratic spaces even under totalitarian oppression, as the Polish people have managed from 1980 onwards. The erosive effect of the Polish Solidarność on the former communist Eastern bloc was ventilated by the combination "No freedom without solidarity" (Nie ma wolności bez Solidarności); this still accompanied Poland's transformation into a parliamentary democracy at the Round Table and inspired the PI’s visiting professorship in Gdańsk in October 2024.
In a further research phase, the comparative study of historical constitutions (cf. https://www.reconfort.uni-passau.de, currently in the process of long-term archiving by the BSB) will reveal “people”, “nation” or “state” as only "imagined" variables and constituting sovereignty’s points of references. Such a source-based state-theoretical "transcendence" in turn requires the "imagined" identification with the abstract reference points of constituting and constituted sovereignty. This leads to the conclusion that democracy needs the differentiation between civil society and constituted people. If anybody argues for a real, full identity of civil society with "the" state, this can be nothing else than an ideologising assertion; total social unity can only by achieved by eliminating any kind of “others” ("enemies of the people" in National Socialism, "counter-revolutionaries" in Stalinism, "dissidents" in socialism or all kinds of other "dissenters"). Ultimately, both research challenges of European constitution-making, result in an anewed old liberty-understanding as freedom for (instead of the freedom from-accent of liberalism), which is the underlying tone of the Solidarność slogan "No freedom without solidarity", and aims at scientifically deciphering the current sacralisation of nation, state and fatherland (be it through great again-fantasies, racist exaggerations or illiberal exclusivity).
The research focus on human dignity in past and present concentrates on proving that dignity is not, in and of itself, a legal concept, even though its codified prominence after 1945 was meant to ban any further Nazi barbarism. After reexamining such a belated constitutionalisation, the chair's most recent research project tackles with the instrumentalisation of universalism (‘of all people or of man’); this addresses the misuse of the Kantianised post-war dignity (man as an end in himself) for the current solipsistic deformation of liberalism, ignoring the ethymological link between freedom and belonging to the people and thereby sacrifying all solidarity to an ego of freedom.
The main focus of Private law comparison in the areas of movable property law, company law, inheritance law is on floating charges in English corporate law, the sole entrepreneur in corporate reorganisation, the "fictitious" and the "overlooked" shareholder in continental European legal systems as well as on functional equivalences in member states' company law regulations on the ineffective formation of limited liability companies or the preliminary stock company’s legal transactions. Comparative work and expert opinions in inheritance law concern arbitration clauses in wills, remuneration for the execution of wills and the valuation of estates in the law of legitimate portions.
The main focus of Private law comparison in the areas of movable property law, company law, inheritance law is on floating charges in English corporate law, the sole entrepreneur in corporate reorganisation, the "fictitious" and the "overlooked" shareholder in continental European legal systems as well as on functional equivalences in member states' company law regulations on the ineffective formation of limited liability companies or the preliminary stock company’s legal transactions. Comparative work and expert opinions in inheritance law concern arbitration clauses in wills, remuneration for the execution of wills and the valuation of estates in the law of legitimate portions.
The research focus on civil law centres on the commentaries about inheritance law in paragraphs 2270, 2271 BGB and 2301, 2302 BGB (=German Civil Law Code; AnwaltKommentar BGB - Band 5: Erbrecht, ed. by Ludwig Kroiß/Claus-Henrik Horn, 6th edition, Baden-Baden 2022), as well as on the dogmatic problems and practical design issues of the third-party determination of the legatee pursuant to paragraph 2151 BGB. The subsequent agreement of the remunerative nature of lifetime transfers (in particular in the light of paragraphs 2113, 2287, 2325 BGB) and the mixed gift in inheritance law, in particular with regard to the distribution of the burden of proof for the "gross disproportion" of performance and consideration, are currently open dissertation projects at the chair. The research interests on family law concern the competing rivalry between Article 6 of the German Basic Law and Article 8 of the ECHR. Thereby, Article 8 ECHR protective guarantees for "home", "secrecy of correspondence" and "family" find their national constitutional companions in more specific Basic Law-guarantees. Other protective aspects of Art. 8 ECHR correspond with the general right of personality, forged as judge made law within an extensive case law of the German Federal Constitutional Court on privacy, including the right of self-determination, of self-presentation and self-preservation, as well as the right to informational self-determination or the right of confidentiality and integrity of information technology systems. In terms of content, Article 8, para I ECHR is in line with Art. 7 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. In accordance with the historical interests of the chair holder, the historical drafting of the Basic Law, the ECHR and the CFR are included within the research plan.
The research focus on civil law centres on the commentaries about inheritance law in paragraphs 2270, 2271 BGB and 2301, 2302 BGB (=German Civil Law Code; AnwaltKommentar BGB - Band 5: Erbrecht, ed. by Ludwig Kroiß/Claus-Henrik Horn, 6th edition, Baden-Baden 2022), as well as on the dogmatic problems and practical design issues of the third-party determination of the legatee pursuant to paragraph 2151 BGB. The subsequent agreement of the remunerative nature of lifetime transfers (in particular in the light of paragraphs 2113, 2287, 2325 BGB) and the mixed gift in inheritance law, in particular with regard to the distribution of the burden of proof for the "gross disproportion" of performance and consideration, are currently open dissertation projects at the chair. The research interests on family law concern the competing rivalry between Article 6 of the German Basic Law and Article 8 of the ECHR. Thereby, Article 8 ECHR protective guarantees for "home", "secrecy of correspondence" and "family" find their national constitutional companions in more specific Basic Law-guarantees. Other protective aspects of Art. 8 ECHR correspond with the general right of personality, forged as judge made law within an extensive case law of the German Federal Constitutional Court on privacy, including the right of self-determination, of self-presentation and self-preservation, as well as the right to informational self-determination or the right of confidentiality and integrity of information technology systems. In terms of content, Article 8, para I ECHR is in line with Art. 7 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. In accordance with the historical interests of the chair holder, the historical drafting of the Basic Law, the ECHR and the CFR are included within the research plan.
