In March 1906, Henry Goudy, then Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford, wrote a letter to the Editor of The Spectator (published 24 March) following the recent death of his colleague, the ancient historian Dr A. H. J. Greenidge on 11 March. What is interesting is that Goudy noted that Greenidge’s work, Infamy in Roman Law (1894) “earned the high commendation of Mommsen”. He thought Greenidge’s most important work was Legal Procedure of Cicero’s Time (1901), “in which the whole subject of jurisdiction and procedure–the various Courts for the Trail of actions, the various forms of action, both ciivl (legit actions, formulae, &c.) and criminal–during the Republic is discussed in an excellent method, and with full knowledge of the most recent investigations”. Goudy speculated that had Greenidge not died too soon, he would have “have followed worthily in the footsteps of Mommsen and done much work of the kind that great master loved”.
This high praise of Greenidge helps us understand the vehemence with which in 1909 he attacked Hannis Taylor for plagiarism of the work of both Greenidge and Muirhead, Goudy’s teacher in Edinburgh. It is interesting to see that for Goudy Mommsen was the touchstone for excellence in the field. In all one can see Goudy’s academic values being expressed: see 30 Tul. Eur. & Civ. L.F. 1 2015.
