Chinese delegation visits the mpilhlt

A six-member delegation from the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), led by Vice-Director Professor XIE Zengyi (谢增毅), visited the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory (mpilhlt) in mid-October. The occasion marked the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by Professor Thomas Duve and Professor XIE to further strengthen cooperation between the two Institutes.

This undertaking builds on a long tradition of exchange between the CASS and several Max Planck institutes including mutual visits, joint conferences and lectures, and lively discussions about civil and commercial law, legal history, and international law in both China and Germany.

The conference marked the start of the new collaboration and celebrated the launch of the 'German-Chinese Seminar on Comparative Legal History and Legal Theory' as a permanent, dynamic platform for scholarly dialogue. Both partners share the ambition to accelerate their joint activities — from exchanging material and publications to developing collaborative research projects and conferences as well as enabling two-way mobility of researchers. The second session of the German-Chinese Seminar is already being planned and is likely to take place in 2026 in Beijing.