Against the »Harmful One-sidedness« Wider die »verderbliche Einseitigkeit« Einführung in das Symposium

On 23 June 2012, on the occasion of the annual meeting of the Association of Friends of the Hamburg Max Planck Institute, a symposium took place on the topic of »The Dialogue between Legal Scholarship and the Courts«. This essay is based on the lecture introducing that symposium. It presents the actors as well as the metaphor of the dialogue, and it draws attention to the distinction that has traditionally been drawn, in this respect, between the continental civilian tradition and the English common law. The essay then very briefly recalls the long history of that dialogue under the ius commune, particularly in Germany, and notes, for the 20th century, a convergence between Germany and England. Even if judge and jurist do not, or do not always, constitute an »integrated community«, they should both fight the temptation to adopt a one-sided perspective that would be injurious for the development of the law: for the development of the law is an enterprise that has to be guided by both theory and practice (Savigny).