The Arab World’s Greatest Jurist

Analysis

Mark Hoyle from King & Wood Mallesons looks at the evolution of Arab Law across the Middle East and North Africa and the life and legacy of Dr Abdel Razzaq Al Sanhouri.

Introduction

In the language of lawyers praising a jurist, the word “greatest” is usually an overblown epithet. There is one man though that many consider, rightly, to be the Arab world’s greatest jurist in modern times. Dr Abdel Razzaq Al Sanhouri was the eminent jurist, teacher, writer and draftsman of many laws and codes in the Arab world. Al Sanhouri was born in 1895 in Alexandria in Egypt and died in 1971 in Cairo.