Mareike Schmidt (Hamburg): Cultural Diversity in Private Law

Abstract

Core areas of private law such as contracts and torts are generally not seen as being strongly intertwined with cultural issues. Likewise, the idea of allowing for cultural diversity in these areas of law seems to run counter to both longstanding and recent efforts of unification of private law. Nevertheless, current perceptions of societies as culturally diverse and fragmented bodies beg the question how much room there is for various cultural conceptions of normality in the core areas of German private law. My thesis is that these areas of law predominantly operate on an assumption of cognitive consensus, thus following a model of cultural monism. I will demonstrate this not only regarding the law’s idea of communication between individuals but also concerning methodological questions and legal tools designed to allow for differentiation. On this basis, I will then explore the possibilities of modeling private law on the idea of cultural pluralism: Can law depart from the idea of cognitive consensus? What changes would this entail, both on a theoretical and a doctrinal level? Without pretending that private law should exclusively follow a pluralistic model, I suggest that including more cultural diversity in core areas of German private law is not only possible but can in some instances even lead to more doctrinal clarity.

(Mareike Schmidt)

Registration is required for attending the event.
Please contact: kspranz@uni-bonn.de

Curriculum Vitae

Prof. Dr. Mareike Schmidt studied Law in Würzburg, Berlin (Humboldt), and Peking from 2001 to 2007. She was subsequently a research associate for Prof. Dr. Ingeborg Schwenzer at the University of Basel, where she received her doctorate with a thesis on “Product Recalls and Recourse”. Her dissertation was awarded the Professor Walther Hug Prize. She later worked as a researcher at the Center for Legal Teaching Methodology at the University of Hamburg. After legal clerkships in Pretoria and Tiflis, she completed her second state examination in early 2016 in Hamburg. Since 2016 she has been Junior Professor of Civil Law and Legal Teaching Methodology at the University of Hamburg’s Department of Law.

Her research interests include civil law, consumer law, international trade and arbitration, comparative law, and legal teaching methodology. For her habilitation, Mareike Schmidt is examining how cultural diversity is handled in private law.

Since October 2021, Prof. Dr. Mareike Schmidt is a Fellow at the Käte Hamburger Center for Advanced Study in the Humanities “Law as Culture”.