The IVR is the world's central academic organization for the study and advancement of legal and social philosophy.
Many notable academics have served as president of the organization, including Neil MacCormick[2] (Scotland), Ulfrid Neumann (Germany), Enrico Pattaro (Italy), Eugenio Bulygin (Argentina) and Mortimer Sellers[3] (U.S.).
Founding father Fritz Berolzheimer (1869–1920): From Arthur Kohler's essay "Von der Wiege des Archivs" (From the cradle of the Archive) from 1930/31 we know that the idea for founding a journal for the philosophy of law on a neo-idealistic basis came from Fritz Berolzheimer, a lawyer and private scholar from Munich.
After studying law in Freiburg and Heidelberg, Kohler at first worked as lawyer and later as a judge in Mannheim.
The fundamental idea of Rothschild Publishing House is well described by the following words celebrating its 25th anniversary in 1930: "The work of the scholar prospers in solitude.
Trusting his own strain of thoughts alone and without any help, the scholar seeks to deduce the laws of the world, to find formulations that are valid.
The sphere of privacy will be crossed only when the publisher gives these thoughts a broader footing; when he makes a book out of a manuscript.
166 persons have been listed as Founding Members of the IVR in Oct. 1st, 1909 [9] Mainly they came from: Germany (96), Austria-Hungary (14), Netherlands (11), Switzerland (9), Italy (6), Russia (6).
But among these councillors were also delegates from far-away countries like Ernesto Quesada from Buenos Aires (Argentina), Clovis Bevilaqua from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Govindo Dàs from Benares (India).
In the history of the association, two persons opened up their wallets and served as IVR Patrons: Industrialist and maecenas Wilhelm Merton (1848–1916).
Bankier Wilhelm von Pechmann (1859–1949), who was Directorate Member of the Bayerische Handelsbank München (Bavarian Merchant Bank).
In 1910, Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (1868–1937; Reign 1892–1918) agreed to be an IVR Protector.
The social program of the first congress was quite modest: a welcoming evening at the Palace Hotel and two afternoon receptions at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Kohler and Mr. and Mrs. Fürstenberg (the latter having a grand villa in western Berlin, in Grunewald).
Under the aegis of dean Kohler, American president Roosevelt and the German Emperor were granted Honorary Doctors.
Originally the congress was intended to take place at the Royal Academy in the east Prussian city of Posen (Poznań, now west-central Poland), but was relocated to Frankfurt.
In Frankfurt, the congress took place at the Akademie für Sozial- und Handelswissenschaften (Academy for Social and Commercial Sciences).
The congress was attended by about 170 delegates and concentrated on practical questions of law and economy; nevertheless, IVR Presidents Josef Kohler und Fritz Berolzheimer contributed programmed lectures on "Grenzen der Rechtsphilosophie" (Limits of the Philosophy of Law) and "Programm des Neo-Hegelianismus" (Programme of Neo-Hegelism).
The preserved writings provide an insight into the process of organizing a congress in the early days of the IVR.
; configuration of a social program (Geselligkeitsprogramm) for all participants, consisting of a city reception, a reception at the Frankfurt Chamber of Trade (Handelskammer), and an excursion to the reconstructed Roman fort Saalburg located on the Taunus ridge near famous spa town Bad Homburg.
Besides the cost of catering, this sum included cigars (35.35 Marks) and a red carpet at the Kaisertreppe (Emperor's staircase).
In the years 1919/1920, the Association had to bear a big loss – the passing of its founders Josef Kohler (†1919) and Fritz Berolzheimer (died 1920).
After the takeover of power by the National Socialists in 1933, Vice President Götz Briefs, being a Catholic social philosopher, was removed from office and forced to leave the country.
Concerning the political orientation, in 1948, it was emphasized in favor of Emge, "that the IVR was not subordinated to any other organization and maintained its apolitical, purely scientific character".
The first congress outside Europe was organized by Gray Dorsey (IVR President 1975-79) in St. Louis (USA) in 1975.
IVR Executive Committee 2019/23 Aulis Aarnio (Finland) Jose Brito (Portugal) Eugenio Bulygin (Argentina) Ricardo Guibourg (Argentina) Hermann Klenner (Germany) Ulfrid Neumann (Germany) Enrico Pattaro (Italy) Carl Wellman (USA) President: Matthias Mahlmann (Switzerland) Vice-presidents: Véronique Champeil-Desplats (France) Marcelo Galuppo (Brazil) Sanne Taekema (Netherlands) Gülriz Uygur (Turkey) Other members: Juan Pablo Alonso (Argentina) Amalia Amaya (Mexico) Andres Botero-Bernal (Colombia) Ann Cudd (US) Jasminka Hasanbegovic (Serbia) Isabel Lifante (Spain) Li Lin (China) George Pavlakos (UK) Giorgio Pino (Italy) Lorenz Schulz (Germany) Michael Sevel (Australia) Hirohide Takikawa (Japan) Jin-Sook Yun (Korea) Wojciech Zaluski (Poland) Mauro Zamboni (Sweden) Klaus Günther (Germany) – Treasurer Non-voting members: Anne Kühler (Secretary-General) Annette Brockmöller (Editor-in-Chief of the ARSP) Christoffer Wong (webmaster) Mortimer Sellers (immediate past president) Secretary-General: Anne Kühler (Switzerland) Treasurer: Klaus Günther (Germany) The following persons have served as Presidents of the Association: Executive Committee 1909 Executive Committee 1919/20-1933/34 Executive Committee 1925/26-1933/34 Executive Committee 1935-1944 Executive committee 1948-1953 Executive Committee 1953-1957 Executive Committee 1957-1959 IVR Presidents 1959-83 The Archive for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie, ARSP) contains scholarly peer-reviewed articles in various languages (inter alia German, English, French and Spanish) on legal and social philosophy.
List of Old series conferences[13] List of New series conferences[14] As we get to know by Arthur Kohler, the son of IVR's Founding father Josef Kohler, in former times the Archive's editorial meeting were held at the Romanisches Café in Berlin (Romanesque Cafe).
The Romanisches Café was located in the ground floor of a neo-romanesque building complex vis-à-vis to the famous Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church) in western Berlin, which was also built in romanesque style.
German author and satirist Erich Kästner reports: "The Romanisches Café is the ante room for talents.