About the Institute

About the institute

The Institute is divided into the Department of ‘European Private Law, Private International Law and Comparative Law’ (Director: Prof. Dr Christoph Busch), the Department of ‘European Public Law and Comparative Law’ (Director: Prof. Dr Oliver Dörr) and the Department of ‘European Legal History and Union Private Law’ (Director: Prof. Dr Hans Schulte-Nölke). Hans Schulte-Nölke is also a member of the faculty at Radboud University Nijmegen. Professors Thomas Groß (public law), Mary-Rose McGuire (private law), Sören Segger-Piening (private law) and Fryderyk Zoll (private law) are also members of the Institute. Professor Zoll simultaneously holds a half professorship at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.

Chairs at the institute

Prof. Dr. Christoph Busch, Maître en Droit, Lehrstuhl für Deutsches und Europäisches Privat- und Wirtschaftsrecht sowie Internationales Privatrecht

Prof. Dr. Oliver Dörr, LL.M. (London), Lehrstuhl für Öffentliches Recht, Europarecht, Völkerrecht und Rechtsvergleichung

Prof. Dr. Thomas Groß, Lehrstuhl für Öffentliches Recht, Europarecht und Rechtsvergleichung

Prof. Dr. Mary-Rose McGuire, M. Jur. (Göttingen), Lehrstuhl für Bürgerliches Recht, Recht des Geistigen Eigentums sowie deutsches und europäisches Zivilprozessrecht

Prof. Dr. Hans Schulte-Nölke, Lehrstuhl für Bürgerliches Recht, Europäisches Privat- und Wirtschaftsrecht, Rechtsvergleichung und Europäische Rechtsgeschichte

Prof. Dr. Sören Segger-Piening, LL.M. Eur., Lehrstuhl für Bürgerliches Recht, Internationales und Europäisches Privat- und Verfahrensrecht sowie Rechtsvergleichung

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Frydery Zoll, Lehrstuhl für Europäisches und Polnisches Privatrecht sowie Rechtsvergleichung

The institute

The European Legal Studies Institute conducts basic legal research into the law of the European Union, the rights of its member states and the interactions between the two levels. It is primarily dedicated to comparative law within Europe in the areas of private and public law. It thereby accompanies the harmonisation and standardisation of law in the European Union. This also includes private international law, which determines the territorial scope of application of European Union law, as well as international law, which has a decisive influence on the European legal order and the values that underpin it. The reception of regulatory objectives and standards of the European Union outside the European internal market (so-called Brussels effect) is also taken into account. The overarching aim is to understand the characteristics of this legal area, which is unique in the world, to promote its integration, to initiate new developments and to provide analytical support.

With its excellent scientific infrastructure, in particular the renowned research library, the European Legal Studies Institute is a focal point for scholars from all over Europe and beyond. A unique feature of the Institute is the great experience of its scholars in building European research networks. On the basis of comparative research, the working groups initiated by the Institute have elaborated important works of reference on European law, which have attracted attention beyond Europe.

The ELSI's tasks also include specialising in European Union law and its historical and comparative legal foundations as well as training foreign students in European Legal Studies. The Institute promotes international exchange through cooperation with foreign universities, active participation in the Erasmus programme, international doctoral workshops and the exchange of lecturers.

As an independent research institution, the Institute makes its expertise available to public institutions in Germany and abroad. In particular, the Institute's researchers regularly advise the European Commission and the European Parliament on important legislative projects.

History of the institute

The European Legal Studies Institute was founded in the winter semester 2003/04 on the initiative of Prof. Dr Dr h.c. mult. Christian v. Bar, FBA, MAE, and Prof. Dr Jens-Peter Schneider (now Freiburg i.Br.) by the University of Osnabrück with funds from the State of Lower Saxony from the Niedersachsenvorab of the Volkswagen Foundation as an academic institution of the Faculty of Law.

The institute was founded based on the experience of the Study Group on a European Civil Code, whose steering committee and management was located in Osnabrück under the leadership of Professor v. Bar. The Institute was and is intended to deepen and broaden the scope of the private law endeavours and, above all, to transfer the experience and approaches gained there to new areas of law in the fields of European Union law, international law and administrative law.

Funding from the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science was based on an expert assessment by the Scientific Commission of Lower Saxony, which strongly favoured the establishment of the European Legal Studies Institute in Osnabrück. In particular, the commission expressly adopted the assessment of the expert group, according to which the project of the European Legal Studies Institute was unique in terms of its academic approach and its significance for academic policy, at least in Germany, if not in Europe.

Until 2020, the Institute was headed by Prof. Dr Dr h.c. mult. Christian von Bar, FBA, MAE held the position until 2020. From 2021 to 2023, the Institute was initially headed by Prof Dr Christoph Busch, and from April 2023 by Prof Dr Thomas Groß. Prof Dr Mary-Rose McGuire took over as head of the Institute in the summer semester of 2024.

The predecessors of the European Legal Studies Institute were the Institute for European Law (founding director: Prof Dr Hans-Werner Rengeling) and the Institute for Private International Law and Comparative Law (founding director: Prof Dr Christian v. Bar). Their institute libraries, including the European Documentation Centre (EDZ) in Osnabrück, formed the basis for the development of an exceptional collection of books on law in the European Union. In particular, it includes sources and literature on the private and administrative law of the member states. The library started with a basic collection of around 60,000 volumes, which has since been expanded to over 100,000 volumes.

Institut pour le droit en Europe

L'European Legal Studies Institute (Institut pour le droit en Europe) est un institut scientifique à l’Université d’Osnabrueck. Les scientifiques mènent des recherches juridiques fondamentales sur le droit de l'Union européenne, les droits de ses États membres et les interactions entre les deux niveaux. L’institut se consacre avant tout au droit comparé intra-européen dans les domaines du droit privé et du droit public. Il accompagne ainsi l'harmonisation et l'uniformisation du droit au sein de l'Union européenne. Cela comprend également le droit international privé, qui détermine le champ d'application territorial du droit de l'Union, ainsi que le droit international public, qui contribue de manière décisive à façonner l'ordre juridique européen et les valeurs qui le sous-tendent. La réception des objectifs de réglementation et des normes de l'Union européenne en dehors du marché intérieur européen ("Brussels effect") est également prise en compte. L'objectif général est de comprendre les particularités de cet espace juridique unique au monde, de promouvoir son rapprochement, d'initier de nouveaux développements et de les accompagner de manière analytique.
Grâce à son excellente infrastructure scientifique, notamment sa bibliothèque de recherche renommée, l'institut est un point de repère pour les scientifiques de toute l'Europe et d'ailleurs. Une caractéristique unique de l'institut est la grande expérience des scientifiques travaillant à l'institut dans la mise en place de réseaux de recherche européens. Les groupes de travail et les projets initiés par l'institut élaborent depuis maintenant plus de 20 ans, sur une base de droit comparé, des ouvrages de référence importants sur le droit européen, dont l'intérêt dépasse les frontières de l'Europe.

L'ELSI a également pour mission de dispenser une formation spécialisée en droit de l'Union et ses fondements historiques et comparatifs, ainsi que de former des étudiants étrangers en European Legal Studies. L'institut encourage les échanges internationaux par le biais d'une coopération avec des universités étrangères, d'une participation active au programme Erasmus, d'ateliers doctoraux internationaux ainsi que d'échanges de professeurs et enseignants.

En tant qu'institut de recherche indépendant, l'institut met son expertise à la disposition d'institutions publiques en Allemagne et à l'étranger. En particulier, les chercheurs travaillant à l'institut fournissent régulièrement des fonctions consultatives à la Commission européenne et le Parlement européen sur des projets législatifs importants.