John Duncan Martin Derrett (30 August 1922 – 21 October 2012) was Professor of Oriental Laws in the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...
, from 1965 to 1982, and afterwards Emeritus Professor.
Derrett was educated at
Emanuel School
Emanuel School is an independent, co-educational day school in Battersea, south-west London. The school was founded in 1594 by Anne Sackville, Lady Dacre and Queen Elizabeth I and occupies a 12-acre (4.9 ha) site close to Clapham Junction ra ...
, London,
Jesus College, Oxford
Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship ...
and the
School of Oriental and African Studies
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ...
, London and was
called to the bar
The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
by
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...
in 1953.
[ He is the author of a number of works on ]law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
and the history of systems of law, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
, religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...
(particularly Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
) and comparative religion
Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yie ...
, latterly particularly of comparisons of Christianity with Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
. Derrett has also translated works by others into English.
Derrett appeared briefly in Dr Robert Beckford's television documentary ''The Hidden Story of Jesus'' (premiered on Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
on 25 December 2007) discussing similarities between some Christian and Buddhist teachings and possible historical reasons for those similarities. With his "A Blemmya in India" (Numen Vol. 49, No. 4 (2002), pp. 460–474) Dr. Derrett argued that "Blemmiya" were Africans, and Buddhists, in India.
Books
* The Hoysalas (1957)
* Introduction to Modern Hindu Law (1963)
* Studies in the Laws of Succession in Nigeria (1965)
* Oriental Lawyer Looks at the Trial of Jesus and the Doctrine of the Redemption (Inaugural Lectures) (1966)
* An introduction to legal systems (1968)
* Religion, Law and the State in India (Law in India) (1968, 1999)
* Law in the New Testament (1970)
* Jesus' Audience: The social and psychological environment in which He worked; prolegomena to a restatement of the teaching of Jesus. Lectures at Newquay (1972)
* Henry Swinburne (? 1551–1624), Civil Lawyer of York (Borthwick Papers) (1973)
* Dharmasastra and juridical literature (A History of Indian literature. Vol. 4, Scientific and technical literature) (1973)
* Essays in Classical and Modern Hindu Law: Dharmasastra and Related Ideas v. 1 (Asian Studies) (1976)
* Studies in the New Testament: Glimpses of the Legal and Social Presuppositions of the Authors v. 1 (1977)
* Essays in Classical and Modern Hindu Law: Consequences of the Intellectual Exchange with the Foreign Powers (1977)
* Essays in Classical and Modern Hindu Law: Anglo-Hindu Legal Problems (1977)
* Essays in Classical and Modern Hindu Law: Current Problems and the Legacy of the Past (1978)
* Studies in the New Testament: Midrash in Action and as a Literary Device v. 2 (1978)
* Beiträge zu indischem Rechtsdenken (Studien zu nichteuropäischen Rechtstheorien) (1979)
* Dr. St. John: A civil lawyer in the Indies (1980)
* Anastasis, The: Resurrection of Jesus as an Historical Event (1982)
* Making of Mark: Scriptural Bases of the Earliest Gospel (1985)
* Studies in the New Testament: Midrash, Haggadah and the Character of the Community v. 3 (1985)
* Studies in the New Testament: Midrash, the Composition of Gospels and Discipline v. 4 (Biblical Studies) (1986)
* New Resolutions of Old Conundrums: Fresh Insight into Luke's Gospel (1987)
* Studies in the New Testament: The Sea-change of the Old Testament in the New v. 5 (Studies in the New Testament) (1989)
* The Ascetic Discourse: An Explanation of the Sermon on the Mount (1989)
* The Victim : The Johannine Passion Narrative Reexamined (1993)
* Sermon on the Mount: A Manual for Living (1994)
* Prophecy in the Cotswolds 1803–1947: Joanna Southcott and Spiritual Reform (1994)
* Studies in Hindu law: Law and religion in ancient India : family law in ancient India (with an account of modern developments) (Pubblicazioni di "Indologica taurienensia" : collana di letture) (1994)
* Studies in the New Testament: Jesus Among Biblical Exegetes v. 6 (Studies in the New Testament) (1995)
* Two Masters: Buddha and Jesus (1995)
* Some Telltale Words in the New Testament (1997)
* Law and Morality (1998)
* The Bible and the Buddhists (Bibbia e Oriente. Supplementum) (2000)
Translations
* The Classical Law of India by Robert Lingat Robert Lingat (Rō̜ Lǣngkā, th, โรแบร์ แลงกาต์, 1892 – 1972), was a French-born academic and legal scholar most known for his masterwork on the practice of classical Hindu Law. He died May 7, 1972, one year befor ...
(1967, in French), English translation by J Duncan M Derrett (1973)
Reviews
* Review of S. Srikanta Sastri
Sondekoppa Srikanta Sastri (5 November 1904 – 10 May 1974) was an Indian historian, Indologist, and polyglot. He authored around 12 books, over two hundred articles, several monographs and book reviews over four decades in English, Kannada, ...
's
Early Gangas of Talakad (1952)
in , July 1953
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Derrett, J Duncan
2012 deaths
1922 births
Academics of the University of London
Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford
Alumni of SOAS University of London
British barristers
British legal scholars
Members of Gray's Inn
People educated at Emanuel School
Swoon hypothesis