On May 1, 1958, Carl Schmitt wrote to Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde asking if he knew who Mathilde Vaerting was.

This "state sociologist" had published books in Darmstadt-based Themis-Verlag.

"It's good that the publisher isn't called Nomos-Verlag." That's the name (since 1964) of the publisher that has now published the book in which you can read this sentence.

Schmitt's penchant for name magic suggests that the choice of publisher for the edition of his correspondence with Böckenförde would have met with his approval.

Reinhard Mehring, the Schmitt biographer, whose long list of publications also includes several studies on Böckenförde, commented on the 468 letters and postcards and added other documents.

The 870-page volume is available in the Heidelberg Max Planck Institute’s “Contributions to Foreign Public Law and International Law” as a printed book for a retail price of 169 euros – and as a free e-book.

Themis is the Greek goddess of justice and Nomos is the Greek word for law.

"The Nomos of the Earth in International Law of the Jus Publicum Europaeum" is the title of one of the three books that Schmitt published in 1950.

He was never able to return to university teaching.

Böckenförde, born in 1930, son of a forest officer, wrote the first letter to Schmitt as a student together with his brother Werner in 1953, asking to be allowed to visit him in Plettenberg in Sauerland.

A kind of distance learning began – until the very end Böckenförde used the salutation “Dear Professor”, while the 42-year-old mentor changed from “Dear Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde!” after his doctorate in 1957 to “Dear Ernst-Wolfgang!” and 1978 , after his ninetieth birthday, also switched to the one-sided “du”.

In Münster, like Hermann Lübbe and Robert Spaemann, Böckenförde belonged to the circle around the philosopher Joachim Ritter.

Schmitt treated him on the one hand as a future colleague and on the other hand used his auxiliary services in procuring books and making photocopies, for example of his diagram of the political theology of Thomas Hobbes (“Hobbes crystal”).

While he was still an assistant, Böckenförde caused a stir beyond the professional world with critical essays on political Catholicism, especially on its role in 1933. Schmitt had to be particularly interested in this because he believed that he was being made a scapegoat for his determined commitment to the Nazi state.

He predicted the thwarting of the printing of Böckenförde's "Critical Consideration" in the magazine "Hochland" and made a bet with Lübbe about it.

Even before his habilitation, Böckenförde was one of the founders of the journal "Der Staat", with which the Schmitt School created an organ.

The first issue appeared in 1962;

one of the editors was Schmitt's student Werner Weber.

Schmitt to Böckenförde, January 13, 1961

Dear Ernst-Wolfgang, congratulations on the magazine!

I immediately wrote to Werner Weber.

There is a lot to think about with a magazine like this, which inevitably finds itself in the political firing line.

Forsthoff sends you his best regards, he's back in Cyprus.

H[ans] Schneider hastily and eagerly prepares the 2nd edition of his Enabling Act brochure;

he asks if you could send him the Ms. of your highland essay.

I'll leave that up to you to decide;

perhaps it is better not to let the essay out of hand until it is published.

My bet with Dr.

I will lose Lübbe with enthusiasm.

I make bets like this out of a kind of ancient (Lübbe would say) superstition.

Many thanks for your two letters (8/1 and 10/1) and especially for the delightful photocopies of the H. crystal!