Alan Watson

Who is Alan Watson?

W. A. J. Watson is a Scottish law and legal history expert, and is regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on Roman law, comparative law, legal history, and law and religion. He is credited for coining the term "legal transplants".

Watson was educated at St. John's Grammar school and at the Hamilton Academy, subsequently attending the Glasgow University, graduating in Arts in 1954 and in Law in 1957. He began his professional academic career at Oxford University, before taking the Douglas Chair in Civil Law at the School of Law of his alma mater, the University of Glasgow. He now serves as Distinguished Research Professor and holds the Ernest P. Rogers Chair at the University of Georgia School of Law. He is also Visiting Professor at the Edinburgh University School of Law, where he held the Chair in Civil Law from 1968 until 1981.

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 Serbia.