Richard H. Helmholz (R. H. Helmholz) (born 1940) is the Ruth Wyatt Rosenson Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...

. He received his

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from Harvard Law School in 1965 and also earned an A.B. in French literature at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, and a Ph.D. in medieval history from the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

. He is a member of the

Selden Society The Selden Society is a learned society and registered charity concerned with the study of English legal history. It functions primarily as a text publication society, but also undertakes other activities to promote scholarship within its spher ...

Council and a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts & Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

and a corresponding fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

. Before moving to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, he spent ten years at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

, where he was a professor of law and history. He is best known for his work on the influence of canon law on the common law. His scholarship was cited by Justice David Souter's majority opinion in the 2004 Supreme Court case ''Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain et al.'', 542 U.S. 692.https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/03pdf/03-339.pdf See footnote 15 He teaches property, European legal history, and the law of oil and gas. In 2000–01, Helmholz was the Arthur Goodhart Visiting Professor of Legal Science at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

and in Fall 2005, he was a visiting professor at Harvard Law School.

Selected authored books

*''Natural Law in Court'' http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674504585. *''Marriage Litigation in Medieval England'' (Cambridge University Press, 1974). *''Canon Law and English Common Law'' (Selden Society, 1983). *''The History of the Canon Law and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, 597-1649'' (Oxford University Press, 2003) *''Roman Canon Law in Reformation England'' (Cambridge University Press, 2004). *''The Spirit of Classical Canon Law'' (3rd ed.) (University of Georgia Press, 2010).

References

External links

R.H. Helmholz

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helmholz, Richard H. American legal scholars Living people Harvard Law School alumni Princeton University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Chicago faculty Washington University in St. Louis faculty Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America 1940 births Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences