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.
In the past 75 years there have been many reforms and new
definitions of Arab law. The establishment of the Arab League post
2nd. World War mirrored the enthusiasm for a pan-Arab legal
consensus. As a result there have been a considerable number of
legal developments in all of the Arab League states. The positive
developments, such as more consensus in legal learning and
education, the exchange of ideas, the employment in the Gulf states
of judges (and lawyers) from Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon,
Sudan and elsewhere has naturally brought about a different
