A scholar's scholar (#115539)
by Robert Higgs on November 16, 2007 at 9:31 PM

Harold Berman was certainly one of the greatest scholars I ever encountered, perhaps the greatest, whether in person or in his works.

I was privileged to give lectures in a program for which he also lectured in 1988, a week-long IHS program on the Rise of Western Legal and Economic Institutions, at Belmont, California. Berman's lectures enthralled me; he was the best lecturer I ever heard. The range and depth of his knowledge, his command of many languages, his enthusiasm for his subjects, and his ability to render his vast knowledge comprehensible to mere mortals--all these made up a combination I have never seen equaled.

His book Law and Revolution is an amazing scholarly accomplishment. With regard to the quality of its scholarship (in every dimension), I certainly place it among the ten best books I've ever read, regardless of subject or date of publication.

Despite his great scholarly prowess, Berman was an unassuming man, not in the least full of himself, a genuinely nice guy. Look at his vita. His achievements were monumental. I hold him to have been a great man.