Reinhold Zippelius (born 19 May 1928) is 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 ...

and law scholar. Now retired, he was formerly the professor of the Philosophy of law and

Public law Public law is the part of law that governs relations and affairs between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that ...

at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

Life and career

Reinhold Walter Zippelius was born in

Ansbach Ansbach ( , ; ) is a city in the Germany, German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk, administrative region of Mittelfranken, Middle Franconia. Ansbach is southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the river Fränk ...

(west of

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

), the son of Hans Zippelius and Marie (Stoessel) Zippelius. He embarked on his study of jurisprudence in 1947 at

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

and then at

Erlangen Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

. In 1949 he switched to the

Ludwig Maximilian 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 ...

where between 1949 and 1961 he was supported by a scholarship-bursary. He received his doctorate in 1953. His

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

(higher academic qualification), also from

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, and supervised by Karl Engisch, would follow in 1961. After passing his public law exams (1956 and 1963) Zippelius worked in government service in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, in the end promoted to the level of Oberregierungsrat (senior government legal advisor) at the

Interior Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

. His habilitation in 1961 opened the way for an academic career, and in 1963 he accepted a teaching chair at

that covered a range of law related disciplines including Philosophy of law,

, Administrative/Civil Law and Church law. Despite attempts by

and other

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

level Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (optical instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights * Spirit level or bubble level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *C ...

institutions An institution is a humanly devised structure of rules and norms that shape and constrain social behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and ...

outside Bavaria to lure him away, he remained at Erlangen for more than fifty years. Reinhold Zippelius retired from his professorship at

in 1995. Zippelius is a full member of the

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

based Academy of Sciences and Literature (''"Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur"''). In 2002 The Faculty of Scientific Theory and History at

Athens University The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

awarded him an honorary doctorate (''"doctor honoris causa"'').

Focus

His academic research is centred on constitutional law, theory of the state, along with legal philosophy and method. The "critical rationalism" provides the theoretical base for Zippelius' concept of law. According to Zippelius, law does not consist of "abstract" norms which are loosened from life, but it is "law in action", which is procreated by human action and thereby transformed into the reality of the contemporary culture.Zippelius, Rechtsphilosophie, 6th ed., § 4 In terms of legal theory, his themes include solving legal problems with the assistance of key concepts, comparison of cases and the question of what counts as "right", especially as regards the validity of unfair laws. In terms of theory of the state, his themes include the legitimation and cultivation of democracy, especially regarding the

rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...

, and the oligarchic components of pluralistic democracy, furthermore the

federalism Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government (a central or federal government) with a regional level of sub-unit governments (e.g., provinces, State (sub-national), states, Canton (administrative division), ca ...

(the limitation of authorities, the functioning and the democratic ambiguity of federalism) and the problems of the

bureaucracy Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zippelius, Reinhold People from Ansbach People from Middle Franconia 20th-century German jurists 21st-century jurists German philosophers of law Academic staff of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Critical rationalists 1928 births Living people

Life and career

Focus

See also

References