Daniel Damler

Daniel Damler serves as an Affiliate Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory in Frankfurt am Main, holding the academic rank of Professor following his 2015 Habilitation. His work bridges historical and theoretical dimensions of legal systems with contemporary normative frameworks.

His research centers on analogue normativity, conceptual metaphors in legal history, and the material/visual culture of law. He pioneers the foundations of a common science of norms through comparative analysis of normative sources and their societal impact. Additional expertise spans the institutional history of European colonization (particularly public-private partnerships and property regimes), history of corporate law, and legal drafting traditions. His innovative Culinary Normativity project examines recipes as informal regulatory systems that enable marginalized populations to shape daily life through crowdsourced governance models.

Notable scientific recognition includes:

• Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes Scholarship
• Reinhold-und-Maria-Teufel-Foundation Prize (2007)
• Two-time recipient of Law Book of the Year (2009, 2017)
• Sibylle Kalkhof-Rose Prize from the Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz (2015)

His 2023 appointment as Visiting Professor at Harry Radzyner Law School in Tel Aviv/Herzliya underscores his international scholarly impact. Current leadership includes the LOEWE Focus: Architekturen des Ordnen (Architectures of Order) (2020-2023), examining historical regimes of normativity through transmedia historical storytelling approaches.