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

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

. 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, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

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 graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

. He studied law at the

Humboldt University Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humboldt ...

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. Founded in 1402, it is one of the ol ...

and

University of Münster The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...

. 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, physical therapists, teachers, research librarians, archivists, pharmacists, food chemists, psyc ...

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

))'' in

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, 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 ...

. 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, (, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the ''Academia Holsator ...

, afterwards at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

(1966) and

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

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

Private Law Private law is that part of a legal system that governs interactions between individual persons. It is distinguished from public law, which deals with relationships between both natural and artificial persons (i.e., organizations) and the st ...

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 () is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledge within their subject. The general goal of th ...

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

University of Regensburg The University of Regensburg () is a public research university located in the city of Regensburg, Germany. The university was founded on 18 July 1962 by the Landtag of Bavaria as the fourth full-fledged university in Bavaria. Following groundbr ...

in 1999 and by the

University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and 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