Michael Stolleis

Michael Stolleis (20 July 1941 – 18 March 2021) was a German jurist and historian. He was a law professor at Goethe University Frankfurt until 2006 and directed the Max Planck Institut für Europäische Rechtsgeschichte of the Max Planck Society from 1991 to 2009.

Michael was the son of Erich Stolleis, who served as Mayor of Ludwigshafen from 1937 to 1942. After his secondary studies, he studied law, German literature, and art history at Heidelberg University and the University of Würzburg. He passed his Staatsexamen in 1965 and finished his doctoral thesis at LMU Munich, titled Staatsraison, Recht und Moral in philosophischen Texten des späten 18. Jahrhunderts.

In 1991, Stolleis received the Leibniz Prize for being an "exceptional academic", awarded by the German Research Foundation. That same year, he was appointed Director of the Max Planck Institut für Europäische Rechtsgeschichte of the Max Planck Society. In 2006, he became a professor emeritus at Goethe University Frankfurt and retired as director of the MPI for the History of European Law of the Max Planck Society, but returned, as acting director, from 2007 to 2009.

In 2015, Stolleis became a Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. He was awarded the Pour le Mérite order for Sciences and Arts in 2014.

Michael Stolleis died in Frankfurt on 18 March 2021 at the age of 79.

• Hegel Prize (2018)