David Daube

David Daube
Portrait by Walter Stoneman, 1957
Born(1909-02-08)8 February 1909
Died24 February 1999(1999-02-24) (aged 90)
NationalityBritish
TitleProfessor-in-Residence at UC Berkeley School of Law
Spouses
  • Herta Babette (Affseesser)
    (m. 1936; div. 1964)
  • Helen Smelser (Margolis)
    (m. 1986)
Children3
Academic background
Education
InfluencesOtto Lenel
Academic work
DisciplineAncient and Biblical Law
Institutions
InfluencedE. P. Sanders

David Daube FBA (8 February 1909, in Freiburg, Germany – 24 February 1999, in Berkeley, California) was the twentieth century's preeminent scholar of ancient law. He combined a familiarity with many legal systems, particularly Roman law and biblical law, with an expertise in Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian literature, and used literary, religious, and legal texts to illuminate each other and, among other things, to "transform the position of Roman law" and to launch a "revolution" or "near revolution" in New Testament studies.