Welcome to the Library

The Library of the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory is one of the world’s leading legal history libraries which owns more than 510,000 printed media items and a multitude of electronic resources. Literature on legal theory, especially with a historical focus, is also available in a variety of forms and is increasingly and systematically acquired. The library is the central point of contact for researchers and visitors of the institute in all matters concerning literature and information provision. In addition to providing research-relevant media, the library offers a wide range of research support services. The main fields of activity are:

Acquisition, cataloguing and indexing of printed books and journals
Licensing and cataloguing of e-books, e-journals, databases and other digital media
Preserving and enlarging the rare book collection
Extension of the digital library through digitisation projects
Provision and maintenance of various search and discovery system
Lending services and provision of literature via interlibrary loan
Maintenance of the institutional publication repository PuRe
Support with research data management and open access
Research and support in matters of digital humanities