Transformations in Private Law | Culture, Climate, and Technology

This Max Planck Research Group studies how social reality is translated into private law and how this process reshapes legal norms, practices, and society. Its research focuses on judicial proceedings and three areas of social change—cultural diversity, climate change, and digital transformation—while distinguishing between everyday knowledge and scientific knowledge.

A central concern is how courts choose among competing accounts of reality. The group examines which forms of knowledge courts treat as authoritative or exclude, and how underlying assumptions influence legal reasoning and decisions, particularly in the law of obligations.

Combining legal anthropology, empirical research, and private-law doctrine, the group adopts both external and internal perspectives. It seeks not only to expose overlooked assumptions and blind spots in legal practice but also to improve legal doctrine, methodology, and professional debate.

Its monograph projects include:

Mareike Schmidt – “Cultural Diversity in Private Law”: Investigates how culturally shaped ideas of normality affect German judicial reasoning in the law of obligations.
Friederike Gehrke – “Judicial Impartiality in Plural Societies”: Examines how German judges construct legal facts and rely on taken-for-granted cultural assumptions.
Igal Lavi – “Religious Litigation in Private Law”: Uses ethnographic research to explore how Israeli civil courts interpret religious norms and assess individual sincerity.
Lisa Simonis – “German Residential Tenancy Law”: Studies how changing circumstances outside the law produce shifts over time in tenancy-law doctrine and practice.