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William Warwick Buckland

1859 – 1946

British scholar of Roman law

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About William Warwick Buckland

Lived 1859 – 1946 (aged 86). William Warwick Buckland was a British university teacher and jurist.

William Warwick Buckland, FBA (11 June 1859 – 16 January 1946) was a scholar of Roman law, Regius Professor of Civil Law at the University of Cambridge from 1914 to 1945.

Life William Warwick Buckland was educated in France, at Hurstpierpoint College and the Crystal Palace School of Engineering. He entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1881, graduating in 1884 with a first in the Law Tripos. Elected a Fellow of Caius, he remained a Cambridge academic for the remainder of his life. In 1920 he became a Fellow of the British Academy. He received honorary degrees from the universities of Oxford, Edinburgh (1922), Harvard (1929), Lyon, Louvain and Paris. Among his best-known works on Roman law is A Textbook of Roman Law from Augustus to Justinian, which became a standard text.

He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge.

Works The Roman Law of Slavery: The Conditions of the Slave in Private Law from Augustus to Justinian (Cambridge: University Press, 1908) Equity in Roman Law: Lectures Delivered in the University of London, at the Request of the Faculty of Laws (London: University of London Press, 1911) Elementary Principles of Roman Private Law (Cambridge: University Press, 1912)

A Manual of Roman Private Law (Cambridge: University Press, 1925) The Main Institutions of Roman Private Law (Cambridge: University Press, 1931) Roman Law and Common Law: A Comparison in Outline (Cambridge: University Press, 1936) (with the collaboration of Arnold D. McNair) Studies in the Glossators of the Roman Law: Newly Discovered Writings of the Twelfth Century (Cambridge: University Press, 1938) (edited and explained by Hermann F. Kantorowicz with the collaboration of W.W. Buckland)

Footnotes

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Important facts

Birth century
Education
Hurstpierpoint College, Gonville and Caius College
Positions held
Regius Professor of Civil Law, Cambridge University
Awards
Doctor honoris causa from the University of Lyon; Doctor honoris causa from the University of Paris

People in William Warwick Buckland's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped William Warwick Buckland's

Frequently asked questions

Who was William Warwick Buckland?

British scholar of Roman law (1859–1946)

When was William Warwick Buckland born?

William Warwick Buckland was born on 11 June 1859.

When did William Warwick Buckland die?

William Warwick Buckland died on 16 January 1946 in Cambridge.

What was William Warwick Buckland's occupation?

William Warwick Buckland was a university teacher and jurist.

What nationality was William Warwick Buckland?

William Warwick Buckland was British.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: William Warwick Buckland

· Wikidata: Q8020045

· DBpedia: William Warwick Buckland

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). William Warwick Buckland. https://biography.guide/william-warwick-buckland/

MLA: "William Warwick Buckland." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/william-warwick-buckland/.

Chicago: "William Warwick Buckland." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/william-warwick-buckland/.

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