Dieter Medicus (legal scholar)

Dieter Medicus (born May 9, 1929 in Berlin-Steglitz ; † June 6, 2015 in Munich ) was a German legal scholar .

Life

The son of two chemists initially also studied chemistry after the Second World War, but had to drop out for health reasons. From 1949 he studied law in Berlin at the Humboldt University , Würzburg and Münster . In 1954 he passed the first legal state examination and in 1957 the second legal state examination in Münster.

As a student of Max Kaser in Hamburg, Medicus dealt with questions of Roman law both in his dissertation in 1956 (in Münster) and in his habilitation thesis ( Id quod interest, studies on the Roman law of damages ) in Hamburg in 1962 . He then taught as a professor at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel from 1962 . In 1966 he was appointed to Tübingen and in 1969 moved to Regensburg . From 1978 until his retirement in 1994 Medicus taught in Munich . In his retirement he then took on teaching positions at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg on the law of obligations until 2008.

In 1980 Medicus was elected a full member of the Philosophical-Historical Class of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . In 1999 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Regensburg and in 2012 from the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg .

Medicus died on June 6th, 2015 at the age of 86.

Scientific work

Medicus is considered a legal scientist who, based on knowledge of legal history, grasps and explains the positive law in an understandable manner.

Medicus became known among other things for his textbooks on civil law. His textbook on General Part of the Civil Code and its short textbooks for general and special contract law as well as his in 2015 already in the 25th edition, now in collaboration with Jens Petersen appearing work Civil Law - An ordered according to claim foundations representation for exam preparation are considered standard works; the latter in particular is considered a classic of legal training literature. The civil law was translated into Japanese translated and not only applies as a leading business, but also as a "literary Lighthouse". The work was developed by Medicus in the 1960s based on the curriculum of the then particularly progressive law faculty of the University of Tübingen . It is characterized by the fact that German private law is presented in a compressed manner in all its complexity, sorted according to the basis of claims. It is widespread among students and is sometimes quoted in practice.

Medicus played a significant role in the modernization of the law of obligations, which came into force on January 1, 2002, as a member of the Law of Obligations Commission, which developed proposals for the revision of the law of obligations from 1984 to 1991.

Fonts

• Civil Law. A presentation for exam preparation, arranged according to the requirements. Heymanns, Cologne 1968. 27th, revised edition with Jens Petersen : Vahlen, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-8006-6083-4 .
• Statutory Obligations. Tort and damage law, enrichment, management without commission. Beck, Munich 1977, ISBN 3-406-06668-2 . 5th, revised edition: 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-54445-3 .
• General part of the BGB. A textbook. Müller, Heidelberg 1982, ISBN 3-8114-5082-4 . 10th, revised edition: 2010, ISBN 978-3-8114-9652-1 .
• Basic knowledge of civil law. A basic book on the basis of claims. Heymanns, Cologne 1994, ISBN 3-452-22312-4 . 8th, revised edition: 2008, ISBN 978-3-452-26878-5 .
• Id quod interest - studies on Roman law of damages. Böhlau, Cologne / Graz 1962.

literature

• Maximilian Fuchs : Dieter Medicus on his 80th birthday. In: Neue Juristische Wochenschrift 2009, 1400.
• Volker Beuthien : Dieter Medicus on his 75th birthday. In: Neue Juristische Wochenschrift 2004, 1642.
• Gottfried Schiemann : Obituary. In: Neue Juristische Wochenschrift 2015, 2011.
• Gottfried Schiemann: Dieter Medicus (9.5.1929–6.6.2015). In: Journal of the Savigny Foundation for Legal History, Romance Studies Department. 133, 2016, pp. 660-666.

Web links

• Literature by and about Dieter Medicus in the catalog of the German National Library
• JuraBiblio.de: Medicus, general part of the BGB, 10th edition (2010) - review.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gottfried Schiemann: Dieter Medicus (9.5.1929–6.6.2015). In: Journal of the Savigny Foundation for Legal History, Romance Studies Department. 133, 2016, pp. 660–666, here: p. 660.
2. ↑ Gottfried Schiemann: Dieter Medicus (9.5.1929–6.6.2015). In: Journal of the Savigny Foundation for Legal History, Romance Studies Department. 133, 2016, pp. 660–666, here: p. 666.
3. ^ ^{A b} Maximilian Fuchs : Dieter Medicus for his 80th birthday. In: New legal weekly . 2009, 1400.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Volker Beuthien , Dieter Medicus on his 75th birthday , NJW 2004, 1642.
5. ↑ Beck-shop.de: Haas / Medicus / Rolland / Schäfer / Wendtland, The new law of obligations, "To the work"