Thomas Duve - Biography#

Thomas Duve was born in Hamburg in 1967. Following a humanistic school education, military service and a bank apprenticeship in Hamburg, he studied Legal Science in Heidelberg, Buenos Aires and Munich. After passing the First Staatsexamen (a German government licensing examination) in 1994 (Bavaria) and a second course of study in Philosophy (Munich University of Philosophy, degree in 1996), in 1997 he was awarded a doctorate of the Faculty of Law at Munich University for his research about the methodological debate in legal science and Staatswissenschaften around 1900. In 1999 he finished his Referendary, which he rendered in Hamburg, Lima and Buenos Aires, with his Second Staatsexamen.

From 1999 to 2001 he worked as faculty assistant at the Faculty of Law of Munich University, from 2001 to 2003 as assistant professor, from 2004 as leader of a partial project in the special research field "Pluralization and Authority in the Early Modern Age" funded by the DFG (CRC 573). In 2005 he qualified as a professor for Civil Law, German Legal History, Historical Comparative Law, Canon Law and Philosophy of Law. In his professorial dissertation he discussed the singular law as a way of organizing juridical knowledge in the legal history of the early Modern Age and the transfer of the European ius commune into the New World.

From 2005 to 2009 he was Professor of Legal History with a so-called dedicación especial en investigación at the Faculty of Law as well as Professor of Canon Law History at the Faculty of Canon Law of the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA); since August 2009 he has been Adjunct Professor of Canon Law at the Faculty of Canon Law at UCA.

He is a member of the Instituto de Investigaciones de Historia del Derecho, Buenos Aires, and the Instituto Internacional de Historia del Derecho Indiano, as well as vice director of the Instituto de Historia del Derecho Canónico Indiano at UCA, member of the Advisory Board of the Stephan Kuttner Institute of Medieval Canon Law, of the Advisory Board of the Iuris Canonici Medii Aevi Consociatio (ICMAC) and the Board of Trustees of the Foundation of German Humanities Institutes Abroad (DGIA). Last but not least he is the editor of the journal "Rechtsgeschichte", co-editor of the electronic journal of legal history "forum historiae iuris", co-editor of the series "Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts" (Mohr-Siebeck), and member of the Advisory Board of the "Jahrbuch für Geschichte Lateinamerikas".

Research Interests

Thomas Duve's research interests focus on the legal history of the early Modern Age and the Modern Era. After doing research on the discussion of methods in legal and social sciences between the German Empire and National Socialism (cf. e.g. ‚Parteienlehre ohne Parteien’ ) he concentrated especially on legal thought and ius commune of the early Modern Age (cf. e.g. ’Der blinde Fleck der ‚Oeconomia’?’ ).

One particular research interest is the legal history of Hispanic America, with studies about the judicial administration in Chile in the 17th century (cf. e.g. ‚Algunas observaciones acerca…’ ), the history of the Argentine Constitution (cf. e.g. ‚La cuestión religiosa…’ ), reception of criminal law (cf. e.g. ‚¿Del absolutismo ilustrado..’ ) and history of public international law (cf. e.g. ‚Friedrich von Gülich…’ ) in the 19th century, and the methodological debate in private law in the 20th century (cf. e.g. ‚El contexto alemán…’ ).

Regarding his works on the history of canon law of the early Modern Age in Hispanic America, which he initially developed within the scope of the Munich Sonderforschungsbereichs "Pluralisierung und Autorität in der Frühen Neuzeit" , he closely cooperates with research groups mainly in Mexico (at El Colégio de Michoacán, Zamora) and Buenos Aires (at the Instituto de Historia del Derecho Canónico Indiano of UCA and the Instituto de Investigaciones de Historia del Derecho ).