Events
CUHK LAW Greater China Legal History Seminar Series – ‘Shanghai in the 1930s, the German Civil Code and the Tragic Story of a Brilliant Legal Mind’ by Prof. Lutz-Christian Wolff (Online)
15 Mar 2024
12:30pm – 2:00pm
Online via ZOOM
Prof. Lutz-Christian Wolff, Wei Lun Professor of Law & Dean, CUHK LAW
Prof. Lutz-Christian Wolff is the Dean of CUHK LAW. Prior to that he was the Dean of the CUHK Graduate School from September 2014 to August 2019 and has – as a CUHK LAW founding member – served in many different administrative positions at faculty level. He has studied, worked and conducted research in a number of jurisdictions, including mainland China, Taiwan, and the USA. He is admitted to practice in England & Wales and in Germany. Prof. Wolff specializes in International and Chinese Business Law, Comparative Law, and Private International Law. He has published widely and is a frequently invited speaker at international conferences, knowledge transfer events and professional trainings.
This seminar combines three fascinating stories: the history of Shanghai with a special focus on the 1930s, the history of the German Civil Code, i.e. a piece of law which has served as model for the private law codifications of many other jurisdictions, and the tragic story of Jury Himmelschein, a very talented Jewish legal scholar.
Jury Himmelschein grew up in Russia and studied law in Moscow before moving to Germany for further academic work. After having obtained his PhD degree he engaged in very impactful legal history work which is still cited in modern times. One of Himmelschein’s famous discoveries was that the common perception of a major error of the German Civil Code was based on a wrong understanding of the historical foundations and German private law doctrine therefore had to be re-written. Himmelschein left Germany for Shanghai when the Nazis came to power in 1933. In Shanghai Himmelschein worked for a law firm and also studied Chinese and even became able to read original Confucius’ texts in Chinese. Unfortunately, in 1937 he made a terrible decision.
Language: English
CPD credits are available upon application and subject to accreditation by the Law Society of Hong Kong (currently pending).
