Ulrich Friedrich Kopp also studied law at the University of Marburg and then entered the Hessen-Kassel civil service, initially as an assessor with the government in Kassel.
In the same year, the law faculty of the University of Göttingen awarded him an honorary doctorate in recognition of his services.
He published a rich collection of historical legal texts from 1799 to 1801: Fragments for the explanation of German history and rights.
His refined knowledge of Latin and his preoccupation with ancient legal texts enabled him to publish the first part of his Palaeographia critica in 1817.
In addition to the largely positive reception of the work, there were also researchers who critically questioned his views and sometimes came to different conclusions.
Kopp's last major work was an annotated edition of the encyclopedia of Martianus Capella, which was completed after his death by Karl Friedrich Hermann and appeared in 1836.