Biography

An internationally renowned expert on art and cultural property law and comparative law, John Henry Merryman continues to teach and publish prolifically, while now in his ninth decade. He has received numerous international prizes and honors, including the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and honorary doctorates from Aix-en-Provence, Rome (Tor Vergata), and Trieste, and has been celebrated in two Festschiften: Comparative and Private International Law: Essays in Honor of John Henry Merryman on His Seventieth Birthday and Legal Culture in the Age of Globalization: Latin America and Latin Europe.

In 2004 Professor Merryman received the American Society of Comparative Law’s Lifetime Achievement Award “For his Extraordinary Scholarly Contribution over a Lifetime to Comparative Law in the United States.” He also has been both a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fulbright Research Professor at the Max Planck Institute. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1953, Professor Merryman was a member of the faculty at the University of Santa Clara.

Key Works

• John Henry Merryman and Albert E. Elsen, Law, Ethics and the Visual Arts, 4th ed., New York, NY:Aspen, 2002.
• John Henry Merryman, The Civil Law Tradition: An Introduction to the Legal Systems of Western Europe and Latin America, 2nd ed., Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1985.
• John Henry Merryman, David S. Clark and Lawrence M. Friedman, Law and Social Change in Mediterranean Europe and Latin America: A Handbook of Legal Indicators for Comparative Study, Stanford, CA.: Stanford Studies in Law and Development, 1979.
• John Henry Merryman, Mauro Cappelletti and Joseph M. Perillo, The Italian Legal System: An Introduction, Stanford, CA: Stanford Unviersity Press, 1967. 462 pages.

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Art and the Law

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• John Henry Merryman, Thinking About the Sevso Treasure, Stanford Public Law Working Paper, No. 1105584 (March 2008).
• John Henry Merryman, Albert E. Elsen and Stephen K. Urice, Law, Ethics and the Visual Arts, Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands: Kluwer Law International, 5th ed., 2007.
• John Henry Merryman, The Civil Law Tradition: An Introduction to the Legal Systems of Europe and Latin America, Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 3rd. ed., 2007.
• John Henry Merryman, Museum Ethics, 1 Art and Museum Law Journal 93 (2006).
• John Henry Merryman. A Clash Over Antiquities, New York Times, April 5, 2006, p. A22.
• John Henry Merryman. Imperialism, Art and Restitution, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. (ed.)
• John Henry Merryman. Introduction In Imperialism, Art And Restitution, John Henry Merryman, ed., New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• John Henry Merryman. Whither the Elgin Marbles? in Imperialism, Art And Restitution, John Henry Merryman, ed., New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• John Henry Merryman. Cultural Property Internationalism, 12 International Journal Of Cultural Property 11 (2005).
• John Henry Merryman. A Licit International Trade in Cultural Objects in WHO OWNS THE PAST? : CULTURAL POLICY, CULTURAL PROPERTY, AND THE LAW, Kate Fitz Gibbon, ed., New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press in association with American Council for Cultural Policy, 2005.

Affiliations & Honors

Honors and Awards

• Dr. h.c., Aix-en-Provence, 1982; Trieste, 1989; Rome (Tor Vergata), 1999
• Guggenheim Fellow, 1985-86
• Festschrift: Comparative and Private International Law: Essays in Honor of John Henry Merryman on his Seventieth Birthday (Clark ed., Berlin 1990)
• Festschrift: Legal Culture in the Age of Globalization: Latin America and Latin Europe
• Fulbright Research Professor, Max Planck Institute
• Recipient, American Society of Comparative Law’s Lifetime Achievement Award
• Recipient, Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Cavaliere ufficiale), 1970
• Honoree, Tribute: In Honor of John Henry Merryman, 39 Stanford Law Review 1079 (1987)