Joseph Mélèze-Modrzejewski

Joseph Mélèze-Modrzejewski (born March 8, 1930 in Lublin as Józef Modrzejewski ; † January 30, 2017 in Châtenay-Malabry ) was a French - Polish legal historian , papyrologist and university teacher.

Live and act

Mélèze-Modrzejewski studied law at the University of Warsaw . Under the supervision of Rafał Taubenschlag he received his doctorate there. In 1952 he was appointed assistant professor in history in Warsaw. In 1958 he emigrated to France and received French citizenship in 1964. His first name was Mélèze , the French translation of his birth name (German " Larch "). In France he continued his studies at the École pratique des hautes études and received a corresponding diploma. He then also obtained the Diplôme d'études supérieures spécialisées in legal history in Nancy . From 1967 to 1976 he worked initially as an assistant professor and later as an assistant professor. In 1970 he received his doctorate again in France, at the University of Paris he received the title of Docteur d'État specializing in Roman law and legal history . In 1976 he was from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne again to Dr. phil is doing his doctorate. In 1978 he was appointed full professor of ancient history at the Sorbonne. In addition, until his retirement in 1999, he was director of the papyrology and ancient legal history courses at the École pratique des hautes études.

From 1972 he was a corresponding member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences , from 1984 of the Academy of Athens , from 1994 of the Academy of Cracow and from 1997 of the Academy of Warsaw . He was also visiting professor at the British Academy and since 2002 an honorary doctorate from the University of Athens .

Mélèze-Modrzejewski's main research interests lay primarily in Hellenistic and ancient Greek legal history and Romance studies. This also included the legal structure and the handling of minorities in Egypt in the Ptolemaic and Roman times, for which he took a legally pluralistic standpoint. His field of activity extended locally to other areas of Hellenism and the Eastern Mediterranean. He also devoted himself to the ancient Greek inscriptions up to the papyri of the Byzantine era. Thematically, he dealt with the Greek family and marriage law as well as real estate law. Altogether more than 400 scientific articles come from his pen.

Fonts (selection)

• Actes de Colloque 1973 sur l'esclavage , Paris 1976
• Droit impérial et traditions locales dans l'Égypte romaine , Aldershot: Éditions Variorum, 1990.
• Statut personnel et liens de famille dans les droits de l'Antiquité , Aldershot Éditions Variorum, 1993.
• Les Juifs d'Égypte, de Ramsès II à Hadrien , Paris 1991
• Le Troisième Livre des Maccabées , Paris 2008
• Dreoits et justice dans le monde grec et hellénistique , Warsaw 2011
• Le droit grec après Alexandre , Paris 2012
• Loi et coutume dans l'Ègypte grecque et romaine , Warsaw 2014

literature

• Julie Velissaropoulos-Karakostas: Joseph Mélèze-Modrzejewski 8.3.1930–30.1.2017. In: Journal of the Savigny Foundation for Legal History, Romance Studies Department. 135, 2018, pp. 928-932.