About the Journal

Rechtsgeschichte – Legal History (Rg) is published by the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory and edited by the directors Marietta Auer, Thomas Duve and Stefan Vogenauer. The journal aims to be a forum for high-level scholarship on all branches of legal history. Its scope therefore reflects the full breadth of the discipline and is not restricted to particular periods of time or specific areas of law. Its particular profile derives from the research conducted at the Institute on the legal history of Europe, the common law worlds and the Iberian monarchies..

The journal has an international orientation and adopts a multilingual approach in order to reflect the diversity of global legal and research cultures. Each issue contains articles on a specific thematic ‘focus’, a section called ‘debate’ or ‘forum’ that brings together short and thought-provoking contributions to a current scholarly debate, and a ‘research’ section with selected outstanding articles on questions of broader interest to legal historians. Reviews of recently published books on legal history can be found in the journal’s ‘critique’ section.

The journal has been published by Klostermann Verlag since 2002. It initially appeared in print twice a year under the title Rechtsgeschichte. From issue 20 (2012) onwards, it has been published once a year as a printed edition by Klostermann Verlag and simultaneously online in Open Access. At the same time, the journal’s title was changed to Rechtsgeschichte – Legal History to reflect its strengthened multilingual policy. The printed versions of the current as well as back issues can be purchased at bookshops or directly via the publisher.

The next issue (Rg 31) will be released in September 2023.