8 Sep 2023

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Yearbook Highlights 2022

The Yearbook of the Max Planck Society features research reports submitted by all its Institutes. Its purpose is  ‘to render account … the scientific research performed at its Institutes to the public and its funding providers. The central questions addressed are: where do we stand, and where do we want to go?’. All research reports are published on the Max Planck Society website.

Max Planck Law is pleased to present below the contributions of the Institutes within our network to the 2022 Yearbook.

Between Think Tank and Law Faculty: Legal Scholarship within the Max Planck Society

By Jasper Kunstreich, Stefan Vogenauer

Summary

This project investigated the history of legal scholarship within the Max Planck Society. Law-related institutes had been established in its predecessor organization as early as the 1920s. They combined scholarship in comparative law with elements of policy advice. By the 1960s, a veritable cluster of law-related institutes had emerged; it came to reflect nearly all aspects of legal scholarship and was able to keep adding new institutes and departments. Today it is the only such cluster of thematically closely connected institutes within the humanities and social sciences section.

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Short-Term Thinking, Criminal Action

By Jessica Deitzer, Sebastian Kübel, Jean-Louis van Gelder

Summary

People who have short-term mindsets (ie impulsivity, sensation-seeking, and low future orientation) are more likely to commit crime. In our research, we consider how adverse environments and experiences affect short-term mindsets. We find that harsh and unpredictable environments, victimization, and first-time and early police contact are each associated with more short-term thinking. This can help explain the link between short-term mindsets and later crime in adolescents.

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Commentary on Supply Chain Act: Orientation for a Demanding Interdisciplinary Topic

By Holger Fleischer

Summary

Germany is the world’s third-largest import nation. The Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG), adopted by the German Bundestag on 11 July 2021, was preceded by long and difficult debates. For some, the law is a milestone in the fight against exploitation and environmental destruction in developing countries. For others, the legislation creates unreasonable burdens and competitive disadvantages for local companies. In addition, there are many unresolved legal issues, making factual orientation all the more important.

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Animals in the International Law of Armed Conflict

By Anne Peters, Jérôme de Hemptinne, Robert Kolb

Summary

Wildlife, livestock, and other animals are the neglected victims of armed conflicts. The project is the very first legal analysis of the weak protection of animals during warfare. It examines which concepts, principles, and rationales of international humanitarian law can be applied and adapted for a better protection of animals and how this can be accomplished. It suggests measures to be taken by national and international authorities in order to improve implementation and enforcement of the legal regime.

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International Investment Law: An Analysis of the Major Decisions

By Hélène Ruiz Fabri

Summary

International investment law (IIL) has a longer history than assumed and is shaped by various actors. Anglophone influences are outpacing its fundamental development. These findings stem from a critical analysis of IIL jurisprudence at MPI–Luxembourg. The project encompasses a variety of specialized literatures and case law in different languages and legal cultures and brings together a diverse team of researchers and practitioners.

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We and Our Automated Partners

By Marina Chugunova

Summary

Rapid advancements in technology and automation call for a deep understanding of how human behaviour changes when humans interact with technology-powered agents in place of human-to-human exchanges. It is important to take such changes in human behaviour into account when creating a legal and policy framework to regulate automation. To this end, we have prepared a review of interdisciplinary findings in this field.

This report was prepared by Marina Chugunova in the economics department. It also drew upon research on artificial intelligence and intellectual property law by colleagues in the legal departments.

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Pension Maps: Visualizing the Institutional Structure of Old Age Security in Europe and Beyond

By Ulrich Becker, et al.

Summary

The ‘Pension Maps’, a collaborative project of researchers from all over the world, aims to make pension systems visible and comparable at a glance. The Pension Maps, consisting of a clearly arranged graphic for each of the 29 countries studied, entails all relevant information on how old-age security is organized in a country, to whom access is granted, how fragmented or universal a system is, and how high the average pension level is compared to the average in the EU and the OECD. In this way, the project contributes to a better understanding of the differences in old-age security systems.

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Climate Protection via Accounting Law

By Wolfgang Schön

Summary

To achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, the European Union is placing large parts of its legal system under the guiding principle of sustainability. A recent example is the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. With this new legislative act, the European Commission is changing the scope and nature of sustainability reporting by companies. It gives non-financial reporting a similar status to financial ones, significantly expands the group of companies affected and tightens up the reporting requirements. And, more importantly, it also creates new standards of corporate governance.

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