John Thomas Abdy

John Thomas Abdy (July 5, 1822 – September 25, 1899) was Regius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge University.

Life

John Thomas Abdy was the son and heir of Lt.-Col. James Nicholas Abdy of the East India Company. His early education was at the Kensington Proprietary Grammar School. He graduated in 1844 from Trinity Hall, Cambridge, Cambridge. He received an LL.B. in 1847 and an LL.D. in 1852. In 1850 he became a fellow at his college and was called to the bar.

From 1854 to 1872 he was Regius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge. In 1858 he became Gresham Professor of Law in London, lecturing on the history of feudalism. In 1871 be became a judge in the new county court system.

Works

• Historical Sketch of Civil Procedure among the Romans, Cambridge, 1857.
• (ed.) Kent's Commentary on International Law, revised with notes and cases brought down to the present time, Cambridge, 1866. 2nd ed., 1878.
• (tr. with Bryan Walker) The Commentaries of Gaius, Cambridge, 1870.
• (tr. with Bryan Walker) The Institutes of Justinian, Cambridge, 1876.
• (tr. with Bryan Walker) The Commentaries of Gaius and Rules of Ulpian, Cambridge, 1885.
• Feudalism: its rise, progress, and consequences: lectures delivered at Gresham College, London, 1890.