The Principles of Roman Law and Their Relation to Modern Law

This book offers a fine introduction to Roman law and its significance to personal and family law in the English American and civil-law systems. Contents include The World Wide Extension of Roman Law The Civil Law in the United States and Canada Outlines of Roman Law History The Corpus Juris Civilis The Law of Persons including Marriage Husband and Wife Divorce Parent and Child Guardian and Ward The Law of Property The Law of Obligations The Law of Succession The Law of Actions and The Law of Public Wrongs. The book covers the full range of substantive Roman law as well as the extension of Roman law throughout the modern world and in particular the influence of Roman law in the United States and England. Unlike most American legal scholars Burdick was sufficiently familiar with the primary sources of Roman law from Cicero to Justinian to write from them rather than secondary literature and translations. At the same time he was exceptionally well-versed in English and American case law and able to use these sources to show developments and parallels. It was a scholarly tour-de-force. --Michael H. Hoeflich University of Kansas Law Review 49 (2000-2001) 1146-1147 William L. Burdick [1860-1946] was a professor of law (1898-1912) and a highly-regarded and popular dean at the University of Kansas School of Law. The William L. Burdick Prize is given annually in his honor. From 1919-1924 at the charge of Congressman E.C. Little of Kansas he recodified existing U.S. statutes. He was the author of The Elements of the Law of Sale and Property (1901) Handbook of the Law of Real Property (1914) The Bench and Bar of Other Lands (1939) and other works.