Why Translating Law Means Translating Culture. MPIL100 Conversation with Karin Oellers-Frahm

Описание: Legal concepts rarely transfer neatly from one system to another. Over five decades at Heidelberg’s Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Karin Oellers-Frahm saw how familiar looking terms can have very different meanings across jurisdictions. Trained as a French Italian interpreter in the 1970s, she soon moved into international law, building a career that combined linguistic skill with deep engagement in comparative and public international law.

From co-editing a leading commentary on the Statute of the International Court of Justice to witnessing the Institute’s shift from German only conferences to an English dominated discourse, she learned that true precision rests on cultural fluency as much as on translation. As machine translation advances and English becomes academia’s common language, she reflects with MPIL’s Carolyn Moser and Philipp Glahé on what may be lost — and why future international lawyers must master the legal cultures behind the words.


About MPIL100
This interview is part of MPIL100 (mpil100.de), the centenary project exploring the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law’s 100-year history. MPIL100, led by Philipp Glahé and Alexandra Kemmerer, puts a spotlight not only on the institute’s milestones and global influence, but also critically examines its complex past. Through blog posts and video interviews with former members, the project preserves and reflects upon both personal stories and institutional narratives, offering nuanced insights into how MPIL has changed, learned, and shaped international law across generations. The project is generously funded by the Max-Planck-Förderstiftung.

About Karin Oellers-Frahm
Karin Oellers-Frahm rose from interpreter training to become one of Germany’s quiet power brokers in international law. After stints translating at the nascent European Community, she joined Heidelberg’s Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in 1970—an uninvited female newcomer in a world of male jurists. There she helped turn dusty court files into living doctrine: her early thesis that provisional measures of the International Court of Justice must bind states later shaped ICJ jurisprudence. A polyglot with a taste for method, she co-edited the leading commentary on the Court’s Statute, steered the monumental “Fontes” case-law series and mentored generations through Jessup moot courts. Half a century on, alumni still carry the MPI imprint she personifies: rigor, linguistic precision, and an insistence that law’s global dialogue depends on culture as much as codes.

Related Resources
• MPIL100 Blog Project: https://mpil100.de
• Karin Oellers-Frahm, The Institute and International Jurisdiction: https://mpil100.de/2024/08/das-instit...
• Karin Oellers-Frahm, Fontes Iuris Gentium. An editorial project on international law: https://mpil100.de/2024/01/fontes-jur...

Credits
Interviewers: Carolyn Moser and Philipp Glahé
Editorial Lead: Philipp Glahé and Alexandra Kemmerer
Video production: Sjors Swierstra and Aldine Reinink

Chapters
0:00 Introduction & Opening Photo
0:20 Early Career: Interpreter to Law Scholar
5:52 Heidelberg in the ’60s & 1968 Student Movement
12:42 Joining the MPI & Early Projects
17:59 Dissertation & Major Research Projects
20:18 Pre‑Digital Research Methods
22:44 Shift to Online Research & Conference Preparation
27:08 Language at the Institute: From German to English
39:44 Women, Family, and Changing Roles
43:46 Hierarchies & Discussion Culture
50:16 Move to the New Building
53:59 Changes in Academic Environment
57:30 Final Reflections: Three Defining Features
59:54 Closing Thanks