The aim of the project is to analyse the changes in jurisprudence in Germany and Japan in the period from 1930 to around 1955. The question is how legal scholars in the two countries and in the various sub-disciplines positioned themselves in the context of political authoritarianism and totalitarianism, of discrimination and persecution, and in the installation of a war regime. It turns out that jurisprudence in both countries made a central contribution to supporting the regime and to rebuilding the law in line with the current ideology. The role of jurisprudence during the period of occupation after 1945 will also be compared and questioned in terms of its contribution to the transformation into a democratic post-war order.

The project is realised in cooperation with Prof. Naoko Matsumoto of Sophia University (Tokyo).