Research Program

Our main fields of research are:

We engage in interdisciplinary basic research and investigate the historical, logical and philosophical foundations of law:

from a historical perspective we are interested in the investigation of globalisation in antiquity where we focus on the comparison of and interaction between ancient laws, especially ancient Jewish, Greco-Hellenistic and Roman law; in addition we are intested in the investigation of Jewish and Christian law (Hebrew bible, rabbinic law, new testament);

from a logical perspective we are interested in the interdisciplinary development of computational legal theory, especially the application of formal logics and artificial intelligence to law to clarify basic legal concepts (e.g. causality) and develop methods for legal argumentation, rationality and system formation; on that basis we want to bridge the gap between civil and common law reasoning;

from a philosophical perspective we are interested in the philosophy, logic and dogmatics of law of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz;

from a legal perspective we are interested in the critique and development of the dogmatics of German private law on a historical and comparative basis and with the use of computational legal theory; together with Prof. Dr. Scott Brewer (Harvard Law School) and Prof. Dr. Henry Smith (Harvard Law School) we want to logically reconstruct and compare the rationality of civil and common law reasoning to overcome the separation between the two legal traditions.

ongoing Research Projects

Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Ancient Law (CISAL)

Center for the interdisciplinary study of the ancient legal history of Jewish, Greco-Hellenistic and Roman law from the perspectives of the disciplines of law and history founded at the University of Hamburg Faculty of Law and led by:

- Prof. Dr. Matthias Armgardt (University of Hamburg)
- Prof. Dr. Kaja Harter-Uibopuu (University of Hamburg)
- Prof. Dr. Werner Rieß (University of Hamburg)

Website of CISAL

Legal Logic, Computational Law and AI (LLCA)

Interdisciplinary research project for the development of formal methods for norm-based reasoning involving the disciplines of law, logic, computer science and artificial intelligence founded at the 'Centre for Law in the Digital Transformation' (ZerDiT) of the University of Hamburg in cooperation with the 'Interdepartemental Centre for Research in the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Law and in Computer Science and Law' (CIRSFID) at the University of Bologna and led by:

- Prof. Dr. Matthias Armgardt (University of Hamburg)
- Prof. Dr. Giovanni Sartor (EUI/University of Bologna)
- Prof. Dr. Scott Brewer (Harvard Law School)
- Prof. Dr. Agata Ciabattoni (Technische Universität Wien)
- Prof. Dr. Adrian Paschke (Freie Universität Berlin)

Website of the LLCA Project

concluded Research Projects

at the University of Konstanz
Norm-Based Reasoning: From Legal and Moral Traditions to AI Systems	Interdisciplinary research project for the development of formal methods for norm-based reasoning involving the disciplines of law, logic, computer science and artificial intelligence initiated by the University of Konstanz in cooperation with the 'Interdepartemental Centre for Research in the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Law and in Computer Science and Law' (CIRSFID) of the University of Bologna supported by the Volkswagen-Stiftung and led by: - Prof. Dr. Matthias Armgardt (University of Hamburg) - Prof. Dr. Giovanni Sartor (EUI/University of Bologna) - Prof. Dr. Scott Brewer (Harvard Law School) - Prof. Dr. Agata Ciabattoni (Technische Universität Wien) - Prof. Dr. Adrian Paschke (Freie Universität Berlin) Precursor of the LLCA Project
'Jurisprudenz und Logik' (JuriLog)	Interdisciplinary research project for the better understanding of conditional statements and the development of legal logic involving the disciplines of law and logic initiated by the University of Konstanz together with the University of Lille with support from the 'Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft' (DFG) as well as the 'Agence Nationale de la Recherche' (ANR) and led by: - Prof. Dr. Matthias Armgardt (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Shahid Rhaman (University of Lille) Website of the JuriLog Project
Cultural Foundations of Social Integration	University of Konstanz cluster of excellence for the investigation of processes of integration and disintegration on all social levels from the requirements for familial and neighbourly cooperation to political processes unfolding on a global scale involving the disciplines of philology, history, philosophy, sociology, political science and law with participation of: - Prof. Dr. Matthias Armgardt (University of Konstanz) - Prof. em. Dr.Dr.h.c.mult. Jan Assmann (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Judith Beyer (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Ulrich Gotter (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Boris Holzer (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Katharina Holzinger (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Thomas G. Kirsch (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Daniel König (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Albrecht Koschorke (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Anne Kwaschik (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Kirsten Mahlke (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Christian Meyer (University of Konstanz) - Christopher Möllmann (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Jurij Murasov (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Sven Reichardt (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Hans Christian Röhl (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Rudolf Schlögl (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Seibel (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Gabriela Signori (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Ulrike Sprenger (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Daniel Thym (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Juliane Vogel (University of Konstanz) Website of the Cluster of Excellence
'Vergleichende Monarchieforschung in der Vormoderne'	Interdisciplinary research project about the comparative study of monarchy in premodernity involving the disciplines of law and history initiated in relation with the cluster of excellence 'Cultural Foundations of Social Integration' at the University of Konstanz with participation of: - Prof. Dr. Matthias Armgardt (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Ulrich Gotter (University of Konstanz) - Prof. Dr. Stefan Hauser (University of Konstanz) - Dr. Steffen Diefenbach (University of Konstanz) Website of the Cluster of Excellence