Professor Marietta Auer, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory , has been awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon in recognition of her more than 20 years of engagement in academic self-governance. The award was presented by Hesse’s Minister of Finance, Professor Dr R Alexander Lorz, at a ceremony in Wiesbaden on 18 September 2026.
The Federal Cross of Merit recognizes exceptional service to the Federal Republic of Germany. In presenting the award, Minister Lorz highlighted Professor Auer’s longstanding commitment to the academic community, including her work with the German Research Foundation (DFG), the European Law Institute, and professional associations in the field of law.
In his laudatory speech, Minister Lorz emphasized Professor Auer’s ability to combine academic excellence with social responsibility. He particularly highlighted her commitment to supporting early-career scholars and promoting international networks in legal scholarship, as well as her contribution to the academic community beyond her formal professional responsibilities.
Professor Auer has served as Director of the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory since 2020, where she established the Department of Multidisciplinary Legal Theory. She is also Professor of Civil Law and Legal Philosophy at Justus Liebig University Giessen, where she served as Dean of the Faculty of Law from 2016 to 2019.
Alongside her academic work, Professor Auer has held numerous voluntary positions in legal and scholarly organizations. She has been involved in the German section of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy since 2004, the Civil Law Teachers’ Association since 2012, the European Law Institute since 2017, and the German Jurists’ Congress since 2018. She has also served on the Research Council of the European University Institute in Florence. In 2022, she was elected Vice President of the DFG.
Max Planck Law congratulates Professor Auer on this distinguished recognition of her sustained contribution to legal scholarship and the academic community.