mind how little was known about Muslim law, and indeed of law
in the Middle East in general, among Western peoples, it was felt
that a broad introductory work was needed first to pave the way
for a possible future translation of the basic law books of the four
Schools, even if they were to have extensive annotations. Among
those who became particularly interested in this work, and who
later formed themselves into a committee, were Majid Khadduri
and Herbert J. Liebesny, both with excellent legal background
for such a task, who subsequently became the Editors of the vol-
ume; also Mortimer Graves of the American Council of Learned
Societies; Philip W. Thayer, Dean of the School of Advanced In-
ternational Studies of The Johns Hopkins University; Robert F.
Ogden, Chief of the Near East Section of the Library of Congress;
and myself, serving as Chairman.

At first, this Committee acted as an independent unit, spon-
sored by The George C. Keiser Foundation, as it had not been
decided whether it would be feasible to have it included as an
activity of a more widely known American institution with special
Middle East interests. It was finally planned, however, that it
should become a Middle East Institute project and publication
and the work has since been carried through under the Insti-
tute's auspices.

Rather than for the book to have a single author, the Commit-
tee believed that it would have broader scope if each chapter or
section were written by a specialist chosen for his knowledge of
the subject treated. The result is that it presents viewpoints of a
number of the most outstanding authorities on Middle East law
in America and Europe, as well as in the Middle East.

The Committee has had many difficult decisions to make and
problems to solve, and while not all of the members were in the
legal profession, each one has contributed to the numerous deci-
sions with which it has been confronted. However, the Committee
would have been curtailed indeed in its activities, if it had not had
cooperation from many sources. Particularly outstanding in this
category has been the assistance of President Floyd Black of Rob-
ert College, who located one of the contributors to the section on
Turkish law, and that of The Rockefeller Foundation, which
made it possible to complete the research required under the su-
pervision of the work's two Editors.

It is not surprising, when we consider that the numerous con-
tributors to this volume are physically so widely separated, that it
has taken almost four years to complete the work, and we feel that

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