Dieter Medicus (9 May 1929 – 6 June 2015) was a German

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

. Until his retirement in 1994 he was professor of Private Law and history of Ancient law at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's List of universities in Germany, sixth-oldest u ...

Life

Medicus was born 1929 in Berlin. His father was a

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

. He studied law at the

Humboldt University Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of ...

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one of ...

and

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over ...

. In 1954 he passed the first state exam ''(erstes juristisches

Staatsexamen The ("state examination" or "exam by state"; pl.: ''Staatsexamina'') is a German government licensing examination that future physicians, dentists, teachers, pharmacists, food chemists, psychotherapists and jurists (i.e., lawyers, judges, public ...

)'' and in 1957 the second state exam ''(zweites

))'' in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

. He was a doctoral student of Max Kaser ( dissertation ''Zur Geschichte des Senatus consultum Velleianum''—‘On the History of the Senatus Consultum Velleianium’ in 1956) and habilitated in 1962 ''(Id quod interest. Studien zum römischen Recht des Schadensersatzes—‘Id quod interest. Studies about the Roman law of damages’).'' In 1962 he was full professor at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...

, afterwards at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

(1966) and

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

(1969). From 1978 to 1994 was full professor of

Private Law Private law is that part of a civil law legal system which is part of the ''jus commune'' that involves relationships between individuals, such as the law of contracts and torts (as it is called in the common law), and the law of obligations ( ...

and history of Ancient law at the

. Medicus is author of the standard text book on German private Law ''(Bürgerliches Recht, 23rd edition 2011).'' ''Bürgerliches Recht'' was translated into Japanese ''(Doitsu-minpō, 1997)'' and hailed as “beacon of scholarly writing”. It is “well-known to every German lawyer” and even cited by courts. His book on the General Part of the German Civil Code ''(Allgemeiner Teil des Bürgerlichen Rechts)'' was translated into Chinese ''(De guo min fa zong lun, 2000).'' His text books on the law of obligations were translated into Spanish ''(tratado de las relaciones obligacionales, 1995).'' He was one of the advisors of the German Government during the reform of the law of obligations ''( Schuldrechtsreform)'' in 2002.

Memberships and honours

Medicus was elected member of the

Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...

(Class for History and Philosophy) in 1980. He was awarded a doctorate honoris causa by the

University of Regensburg The University of Regensburg (german: link=no, Universität Regensburg) is a public research university located in the medieval city of Regensburg, Bavaria, a city that is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university was founded on 18 ...

in 1999 and by the

University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

in 2008.

Works

* ''Bürgerliches Recht. Eine nach Anspruchsgrundlagen geordnete Darstellung zur Examensvorbereitung.'' Carl Heymanns Verlag, Köln 1968. 29th edition (with Jens Petersen): Verlag Franz Vahlen, München 2014, . * ''Gesetzliche Schuldverhältnisse. Delikts- und Schadensrecht, Bereicherung, Geschäftsführung ohne Auftrag.'' Verlag C. H. Beck, München 1977, . 5th edition: Verlag C. H. Beck, München 2007, . * ''Allgemeiner Teil des BGB. Ein Lehrbuch.'' C.F. Müller Verlag, Heidelberg 1982, . 10th edition: C.F. Müller Verlag, Heidelberg 2010, . * ''Grundwissen zum bürgerlichen Recht. Ein Basisbuch zu den Anspruchsgrundlagen.'' Carl Heymanns Verlag, Köln 1994, . 8th edition: Carl Heymanns Verlag, Köln 2008, . * ''Id quod interest – Studien zum römischen Recht des Schadensersatzes.'' Böhlau Verlag, Köln and Graz 1962.

Life

Memberships and honours

Works

References

Further reading