Thomas Duve is professor for Comparative Legal History at the Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main and since 2009 scientific member of the Max-Planck Society, since 2010 Director at the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History.

He studied law and and philosophy in Heidelberg, Buenos Aires and Munich and obtained his Dr. iur. University of Munich 1997.  After his second state examination (1999), he first worked as a faculty assistant for the Faculty of law at the University of Munich and proceeded as a research assistant in a sub-project of the special research project “Pluralization and Authority in the Early Modern Period" at the University of Munich (sponsored by the DFG) from 2001-2003, of which he later became the head of project from 2001-2003.

In 2005, he was awarded Habilitation (venia legendi) in the subjects Civil Law, German Legal History, Historical Comparative Law, Canon Law and Philosophy of Law by Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. He teached as professor of Legal History with a dedicación especial en investigación at the Faculty of Law and for the History of Canon Law at the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina from 2005-2009. From 2009-2010 he was professor for the History of Canon Law at the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontifícia Universidad Católica Argentina.