S. P. (Samuel Parsons) Scott

Born in Hillsboro, Ohio, in 1846, Samuel Parsons Scott built an unusually wide-ranging career as an attorney, banker, and independent scholar. He studied at Miami University, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees, and later became known for serious work in history, law, and translation.

Scott is best remembered for ambitious English versions of major legal works, including The Visigothic Code, Las Siete Partidas, and the translation later published as The Civil Law. He also wrote on Spanish and Moorish history, showing a lasting interest in the legal and cultural world of medieval Spain.

His reputation is a little mixed, which makes him interesting. Some of his work, especially Las Siete Partidas, was valued for making important texts accessible to English-language readers, while other translations were criticized by later scholars. Even so, his effort to tackle vast and difficult source material on his own left a distinctive mark on legal and historical publishing.