Max Kaser
Life
Life
----

Max Kaser was born in [Vienna](/wiki/Vienna "Vienna") where his father, the historian [Dr. Kurt Kaser](/wiki/Kurt_Kaser "Kurt Kaser") (1870–1931\) worked at the time as a [university tutor (*"Privatdozent"*)](/wiki/Privatdozent "Privatdozent"). On both his father's side and his mother's sides, his ancestral roots tracked back through many generations of [Austrian](/wiki/Habsburg_monarchy "Habsburg monarchy") government administrators, lawyers, physicians, army officers and artists. Soon after his birth his father accepted an appointment which included an extraordinary professorship at the [University of Graz](/wiki/University_of_Graz "University of Graz"), and the family relocated to [that city](/wiki/Graz "Graz"). In 1914 the family moved again when [Dr.Kurt Kaser](/wiki/Kurt_Kaser "Kurt Kaser") accepted a full professorship at the [University of Czernowitz (as it was then known)](/wiki/University_of_Chernivtsi "University of Chernivtsi"), a couple of hundred kilometers south\-west of [Kyiv](/wiki/Kyiv "Kyiv"). The [First World War](/wiki/First_World_War "First World War") and, more indirectly, [its aftermath](/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles "Treaty of Versailles"), brought about the need for further moves, and during the second part of his boyhood Max Kaser's family moved repeatedly between [Czernowitz](/wiki/Czernowitz "Czernowitz"), [Salzburg](/wiki/Salzburg "Salzburg") and [Graz](/wiki/Graz "Graz"), as his father pursued his career as a university professor of medieval and modern history.

In 1924 Max Kaser enrolled at the [University of Graz](/wiki/University_of_Graz "University of Graz") where between 1924 and 1928 he studied [Jurisprudence](/wiki/Jurisprudence "Jurisprudence"). He was taught by [Artur Steinwenter](/wiki/Artur_Steinwenter "Artur Steinwenter") who taught [Roman law](/wiki/Roman_law "Roman law"), and whom Kaser would always single out as a powerfully positive influence, on account of his "extensive knowledge and exceptionally well\-balanced judgement". The two would remain firm friends till Steinwenter's death in 1959\. A student contemporary at [Graz](/wiki/University_of_Graz "University of Graz") was [Walter Wilburg](/wiki/Walter_Wilburg "Walter Wilburg") who later achieved eminence as a legal scholar and lawyer, and who also became a life\-long friend. He received his doctorate at Graz, awarded on 19 November 1928\. Many years earlier Ludwig Kaser (1841–1916\), his grandfather, had also received a doctorate in Jurisprudence from the [University of Graz](/wiki/University_of_Graz "University of Graz"). It was on the recommendation of his doctoral supervisor, [Steinwenter](/wiki/Artur_Steinwenter "Artur Steinwenter"), that Max Kaser switched in 1929 to [Munich](/wiki/Ludwig_Maximilian_University_of_Munich "Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich") where he was supported by a scholarship. He was taught by [Leopold Wenger](/wiki/Leopold_Wenger "Leopold Wenger") at the university "Institute for Papyrus Research and Legal History in Antiquity" (*"Institut für Papyrusforschung und antike Rechtsgeschichte"*). The primary focus of his research was a question arising from the Roman civil law of property which two years later formed the based for Kaser's [habilitation](/wiki/Habilitation "Habilitation") and his book "Restituere als Prozeßgegenstand" (1932: republished with extensive further notes in 1968\).

Meanwhile he delivered a programme of lectures at [Frankfurt University](/wiki/Goethe_University_Frankfurt "Goethe University Frankfurt") during the winter 1930/31 term before moving on to the nearby [University of Giessen](/wiki/University_of_Giessen "University of Giessen") where he worked as a research assistant to [Otto Eger](/wiki/Otto_Eger "Otto Eger"). It was Eger who supervised Kaser for his [habilitation degree](/wiki/Habilitation "Habilitation") which he received in June 1931\.

In 1932 he accepted a teaching post at [Münster](/wiki/University_of_M%C3%BCnster "University of Münster") where he took over from [Hans Kreller](/wiki/Hans_Kreller "Hans Kreller") who had transferred to [Tübingen](/wiki/University_of_T%C3%BCbingen "University of Tübingen"). In October 1933, still aged only 27, he accepted a full professorship in [Civil](/wiki/Privatrecht "Privatrecht") and [Roman law](/wiki/Roman_law "Roman law"). He would remain at Münster till 1959\. Although his duties required him to take in interest in [Civil law](/wiki/Privatrecht "Privatrecht"), his strong preference for [Roman law](/wiki/Roman_law "Roman law") was never in doubt. An administrative post was added in April 1937 when he was made [dean of the law faculty](/wiki/Dean_%28education%29 "Dean (education)"). In this post he won and retained, through the energy and ability that he brought to the job, the confidence of his mostly rather conservative senior colleagues, while quietly resisting pressure to pander to Germany's increasingly institutionalised [Nazism](/wiki/Nazism "Nazism") which he characterised (quietly) as an "Anticulture" (*"Unkultur"*).

For Max Kaser 1933 was the year in which he met Erna Lehnig whose mother's family came from [the Münster region](/wiki/Province_of_Westphalia "Province of Westphalia"). Her father's family came from the coastal region of [Pomerania](/wiki/Pomerania "Pomerania"). By the end of 1933 the two were married, demonstrating through their "Austrian\-north German partnership" a "perfect harmony" as Kaser later wrote. It was both a loving and an efficient partnership. Erna Kaser proved a highly competent administrator, running the house \- even to the point, slightly unusually for a "housewife" at that time, of taking care of the family's annual tax declaration \- leaving her husband to concentrate on his work at the university. The marriage also produced, in rapid succession, a son and a daughter. Meanwhile Kaser's academic career and reputation progressed. He received and rejected apparently attractive offers of professorships from [Heidelberg](/wiki/University_of_Heidelberg "University of Heidelberg"), [Freiburg i.B.](/wiki/University_of_Freiburg "University of Freiburg") and [Marburg](/wiki/University_of_Marburg "University of Marburg") in 1937, 1939, 1940, in every case preferring to stay put at [Münster](/wiki/University_of_M%C3%BCnster "University of Münster") "at \[his] own wish", as he expressed the matter at the time in a letter to [a colleague](/wiki/George_L%C3%B6ning "George Löning").

When [war](/wiki/Second_World_War "Second World War") broke out in 1939 Kaser, despite being still relatively young, was exempted from [military service](/wiki/Military_service "Military service") on account of a serious heart defect. However, as the [slaughter of war intensified](/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad "Battle of Stalingrad") such matters counted for less, and in November 1943 he was conscripted into the [army](/wiki/Wehrmacht "Wehrmacht"). He was initially engaged in [anti\-aircraft warfare](/wiki/Anti-aircraft_warfare "Anti-aircraft warfare") but was soon sent back to [Münster](/wiki/M%C3%BCnster "Münster") where he worked as a clerk for the regimental administration (*"Regimentsstab"*). The army permitted him still to lecture at the university for two days each week. In April 1945 [the Americans came](/wiki/17th_Airborne_Division_%28United_States%29 "17th Airborne Division (United States)"). [War ended](/wiki/End_of_World_War_II_in_Europe "End of World War II in Europe") a month later and Max Kaser became a [prisoner of war](/wiki/Prisoner_of_war "Prisoner of war"). He was held in various American and French camps till his release, which followed in 1946\. He returned to [the university](/wiki/University_of_M%C3%BCnster "University of Münster") and resumed his teaching. The [National Socialists](/wiki/Nazi_Germany "Nazi Germany") had had their own views on [Roman law](/wiki/Roman_law "Roman law"). They found it ["materialistic"](/wiki/Materialism "Materialism") and incompatible with their racist ideals, so they planned to replace the [German legal code](/wiki/B%C3%BCrgerliches_Gesetzbuch "Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch") with their own [People's Legal code](/wiki/Volksgesetzbuch "Volksgesetzbuch") which would (among other things) remove the influence of [Roman Law](/wiki/Roman_Law "Roman Law") over the German system. But now they were gone. Kaser could now be less constrained in his lecturing, his writing and on his networking. His reputation continued to grow. Offers of professorships came from [Marburg](/wiki/University_of_Marburg "University of Marburg") (again) and [Heidelberg](/wiki/University_of_Heidelberg "University of Heidelberg") (again). There were also offers from [Graz](/wiki/University_of_Graz "University of Graz") (1951\), [Göttingen](/wiki/University_of_G%C3%B6ttingen "University of Göttingen") (1952\) and [Vienna](/wiki/University_of_Vienna "University of Vienna") (1959\). Till 1959 he rejected all such offers.

When, in 1959, Kaser finally accepted an invitation to move, it was to accept a professorship at the [University of Hamburg](/wiki/University_of_Hamburg "University of Hamburg") where he sustained a successful career in academic teaching and research till his formal retirement in 1971\. Three of his personally supervised [habilitation](/wiki/Habilitation "Habilitation") students from his time at [Hamburg](/wiki/Hamburg "Hamburg") subsequently achieved eminence as university professors of jurisprudence.* + - *  One of these, [Dieter Medicus](/wiki/Dieter_Medicus "Dieter Medicus"), later wrote an affectionate obituary in which he surmised that Kaser's decision to retire from his professorship at [Hamburg](/wiki/University_of_Hamburg "University of Hamburg") had been accelerated by the [student unrest of 1968](/wiki/Protests_of_1968 "Protests of 1968") and its aftermath. He found himself unable to endorse or even to understand either the methods employed or the objectives of those involved. Whatever the truth of the matter, his retirement from Hamburg certainly did not mark an end to an active career as a law professor at a top university.

Between 1971 and 1976 Kaser held a special professorship at the [University of Salzburg](/wiki/University_of_Salzburg "University of Salzburg"), occupying the teaching chair for [Roman](/wiki/Roman_Law "Roman Law") and [Civil law](/wiki/Privatrecht "Privatrecht"). He obtained the position following discussion with [Theo Mayer\-Maly](/wiki/Theo_Mayer-Maly "Theo Mayer-Maly") and [Wolfgang Waldstein](/wiki/Wolfgang_Waldstein "Wolfgang Waldstein"). He let it be known to his friends that he very much relished the chance to teach [Roman law](/wiki/Roman_law "Roman law") to students who were not motivated by the tightly prescriptive regime under which study and exams were operated in the German system. He continued teaching at [Salzburg](/wiki/University_of_Salzburg "University of Salzburg") till 1985, by which time he was almost 80\.

Between 1954 and 1972 Max Kaser was a co\-producer of the prestigious [Zeitschrift der Savigny\-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte (ZRG)](/wiki/Zeitschrift_der_Savigny-Stiftung_f%C3%BCr_Rechtsgeschichte "Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte"), a venerable specialist journal for scholars and students of historical jurisprudence and related topics.


What is Max Kaser's profession?