Max Planck Law has conferred its highest honour on Professor Dr Andreas von Arnauld, appointing him as a Max Planck Law Fellow. The appointment recognizes outstanding scholars from outside the Max Planck Society, nominated by two Institute Directors.
Professor von Arnauld is Professor for Public Law, Public International and European Law at Kiel University and Co‑Director of the Walther Schücking Institute for International Law. He earned his first degree in 1998 and completed the habilitation in 2005 at the Free University of Berlin. He held professorships in Hamburg and Münster before assuming his current position at Kiel in 2013, becoming managing Co‑Director in 2016. His specializations include international peace and security, dispute settlement, the law of armed conflict, and human rights across comparative constitutional contexts.
As a Max Planck Law Fellow, von Arnauld will spearhead a dedicated Fellow Group in collaboration with the nominating Directors, Professors Anne Peters and Marie‑Claire Foblets . A senior research fellow is already being appointed to support the Group and its project, Fairness and International Law, which explores how a more inclusive interpretation of international law might be realized. In a short statement, von Arnauld writes:
Although fairness can be expressly referred to as a legal standard, it remains doubtful if it can be regarded as a general principle of international law. Neither should it be understood as law’s other, correcting outcomes only when the law fails to produce just results. The project will explore how fairness can be both a critical lens and a constructive force within the interpretive, procedural, and institutional spaces of international law. As a regulative idea grounded in legitimate interests—framed through a capabilities approach—fairness could chart a path toward a more inclusive and responsive international legal order, connecting remote places and times in this process.
More detailed information about the Fellow Group can be found here.