Dedicated to publishing scholarly works on legal history, with a special focus on Roman law.
Veterrimus Publishing & Timothy G. Kearley
Timothy Kearley is Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Wyoming. He graduated with High Honors and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and earned his J.D., with Honors, from the University of Illinois College of Law. Professor Kearley writes about the history of Roman law and created Veterrimus to make his work more readily available. For more about Prof. Kearley and his publications click here.
Selected Works
Available for Purchase: Roman Law, Classical Education, and Limits on Classical Participation in America into the Twentieth-Century
The Second, Expanded Edition of Lost in Translations: Roman Law Scholarship and Translation in Early Twentieth-Century America
"Timothy Kearley's deep dive into the historical role of the classics in American education shows how the classics enabled a renaissance in Roman law in the American legal academy, but also how it reflected and perpetuated inequalities for women and minorities. He has produced a valuable study that deserves the attention of historians of education and law in the U.S."
- Michael Widener, Retired Rare Book Librarian, Yale Law Library, Faculty member, Rare Book School, University of Virginia
Lost in Translations describes how a connection to the classical past helped inspire men who were educated in the late 1800s to dedicate much of their lives to translating fundamental documents of Western Civilization--such as Justinian's Code--and to write extensively about Roman law. The book addresses the history of American education (including legal education), as well as the function of Roman law among the elite bar.
"... Kearley is able to provide a useful, if brief, portrait of what classical and legal education was like in the late antebellum and just past-civil war years... This work by a scholar-librarian illustrates well the role of translation and interpretation in the wider web of legal information."
- Mary-Franklin ("Marylin") Johnson Raisch, J.D., M.L.S., M.Litt.(Oxon.) Candidate, Doctor of Liberal Studies, Georgetown University
This article tells the story of Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Fred Blume who singlehandedly created the only English translation of the Justinian Codex made from the authoritative Latin edition. It also describes the digitization of Justice Blume's annotated manuscript translation and its publication on the internet.
Samuel Parsons Scott (1846-1929) single-handedly translated into English the Corpus Juris Civilis, the Visigothic Code, and the Siete Partidas. The latter was very well received, and not long ago was reprinted in a new edition. His Corpus Juris Civilis translation was criticized strongly, but it often was used because, until recently, it contained the only published English translation of Justinian’s Code. This article’s analysis of Scott and his library suggests some possible explanations for the flaws in his translation of the Justinianic Corpus.
The Riccobono Seminar was the preeminent source of intellectual support for Romanists in the U.S. from 1930-1956. This paper uses archival information and newspaper sources to describe the Seminar's activities in its early, less orgainized years (1930-1935).