Max Friedrich Gustav von Rümelin, born on 15 February 1861 in Stuttgart, died on 22 July 1931 in Tübingen, was chancellor of the University of Tübingen between 1908 and 1931, after having been nominated as a rector of the same institution already two years before and was an ordinary professor since 1895. Before being engaged in southern Germany he was already a professor for jurisprudence, roman law and civil procedural law at the Martin Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg.
As a member of the “Akademische Gesellschaft Stuttgardia” he participated in the development of a liberalism typical for Baden-Württemberg. In 1930 the received the doctorate honoris causa in theology, 1931 that in political sciences. Especially his academic speeches as a president of his University must have been a must have read lecture for Swiss jurisprudents in this period of time. In particular his last address as a chancellor in 1930, entitled “Erlebte Wandlungen in Wissenschaft und Lehre”, represents a kind of quintessence of past and current specific conceptions of jurisprudence and can serve as a reference for further development.
Although not having explicit relations with Switzerland (apart from being an intimate friend of Eugen Huber among others), Max Rümelin deeply influenced Swiss jurisprudence by establishing the so-called “Interessenjurisprudenz” at the University of Tübingen with the eminent exponents of Philipp Heck (he taught there between 1901 and 1928). Not only geographic neighbourhood, but also the fact that a great number of Swiss lawyers have spent some time at the University of Tübingen justifies the selection of some crucial writings of this eminent representative of German jurisprudence of his time.
For more information, please refer to:
August Hegler: Zum Gedächtnis von Max von Rümelin, Reden gehalten am 6. November 1931, Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1931.
Selected Works of the Author
Max Rümelin: Juristische Begriffsbildung – Akademische Antrittsschrift, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1878; Idem: Eugen Huber, Rede gehalten bei der akademischen Preisverteilung am 6. November 1923, Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1923; Idem: Rechtsgefühl und Rechtsbewusstsein, Rede gehalten bei der akademischen Preisverteilung am 6. November 1925, Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1925; Idem: Reden und Aufsätze, Tübingen: H. Laupp, 1875.