Alan Watson (legal scholar)

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Alan Watson
Born	1933 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	November 7, 2018(2018-11-07) (aged 84–85)
Education	University of Glasgow
Occupation	Academic legal historian
Spouse	Camilla Watson
Website	http://awf.ius.bg.ac.rs

W. Alan J. Watson (1933 – 7 November 2018) was a Scottish legal historian, regarded as a major authority as on Roman law, comparative law, legal history, and law and religion. He is credited with coining the term "legal transplants".

Watson was educated at St John's Grammar school and at the

, where he held the Chair in Civil Law from 1968 until 1981.

Watson regularly served as a distinguished lecturer at leading universities in the United States and such countries as Italy, Holland, Germany, France, Poland, South Africa, Israel and Serbia. He attended several sessions regarding the development of a

.

He was an honorary member of the

. He was an editorial board member of a number of learned journals.

In 2005, the University of Belgrade's Law School established the Alan Watson Foundation in honour of his worldwide scholarship.

Watson was honoured by his international colleagues in 2000–01 when two collections of essays were presented in his honour: an American volume, Lex et Romanitas: Essays for Alan Watson, and the European volume, Critical Studies in Ancient Law, Comparative Law and Legal History.

Watson authored nearly 150 books and articles, many of which have been translated from English into other languages. Selected scholarship includes the important books

(2005). His articles include "Law Out of Context" in The Edinburgh Law Review (2000) and "Fox Hunting, Pheasant Shooting and Comparative Law" in the American Journal of Comparative Law (2000).

• Glasgow Herald 19 February 1965, page 10. Article on appointment to the Douglas Chair of Civil Law, University of Glasgow
• Alan Watson Foundation
• Biography at Edinburgh Law School website
• Profile at UGA Law School site
• UGA News: Professor Alan Watson receives sixth honorary degree Archived 1 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine
• Remembering Professor Alan Watson (1933 - 2018)
• Gabor Hamza: Watson, A.: Legal Transplants. An Approach to Comparative Law. Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh, 1974. XIV+106 p. Állam- és Jogtudomány 20 (1977) 642-644.p. and Acta Juridica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 20 (1978) 240-242.p.
• Gabor Hamza: Watson, A.: Rome of the XII Tables. Persons and Property. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1975. 195 p. Állam- és Jogtudomány 19 (1976) 491-493.p.
• Gabor Hamza: Watson, A.: Legal Transplants. An Approach to Comparative Law. (Second revised ed.) London, 1993. Jogtudományi Közlöny 49 (1994) 265-266. p.
• Gabor Hamza: Watson, A.: The State, Law, and Religion: Pagan Rome. Athens. Jogtudományi Közlöny 50 (1995) 99-100. p.
• Gabor Hamza: Watson, A.: International Law in Archaic Rome: War and Religion. Jogtudományi Közlöny 50 (1995) 359-361. p.

• Works by or about Alan Watson at the Internet Archive