The Spirit of the Laws
The Spirit of the Laws series illuminates the nature of legal systems throughout the world. Titles in the series are concerned less with the rules of the law and more with the relationships of the laws in each system with religion and moral perspectives; the degree of complexity and abstraction; classifications; attitudes to possible sources of law; authority; and values enshrined in law. Topics covered in the series include Roman law, Chinese law, biblical law, Talmudic law, canon law, common law, Hindu law, customary law, Japanese law, and international law.
Alan Watson, Distinguished Research Professor and Ernest P. Rogers Chair at the University of Georgia School of Law, is regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on Roman law, comparative law, legal history, and law and religion.
A prolific scholar and master of more than a dozen languages, Watson has nearly 150 books and articles to his credit, and his books have been translated into countless dialects. Selected scholarship includes Ancient Law and Modern Understanding: At the Edges, Sources of Law, Legal Change, and Ambiguity, Legal History and a Common Law for Europe, Authority of Law; and Law, and The Shame of American Legal Education.
Watson regularly serves as a distinguished lecturer at leading universities in the United States and such countries as Italy, Holland, Germany, France, Poland, South Africa, Israel and Yugoslavia. He has attended several sessions regarding the development of a common law for the European Union, including one in Maastricht in 2000. At the request of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Watson served as a member of the two-person United States team helping to revise the draft civil code for the new Republic of Armenia.
Watson is an honorary member of the Speculative Society and serves as North American secretary of the Stair Society. He is an editorial board member for the Juridical Review, Journal of Legal History, the Journal of Comparative Law, the Belgrade Law Journal, IURA, the European Lawyer Journal, and the American Journal of Legal History.
Books in this series
The Spirit of Biblical Law
Calum Carmichael
The Spirit of Classical Canon Law
R. H. Helmholz
The Spirit of International Law
David J. Bederman
The Spirit of Islamic Law
Bernard G. Weiss
The Spirit of Japanese Law
John Owen Haley
The Spirit of Roman Law
Alan Watson
The Spirit of Traditional Chinese Law
Geoffrey MacCormack
