The papers presented in this volume were originally presented at a conference entitled “Religion and Law: Middle Eastern Influences on the West,” sponsored by the Middle East Center of the University of Utah and the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young Univerisity. The conference’s aim was to explore the connection between religion, especially biblical religion, and law in the Ancient Middle East and to trace its development into the present. The special status of Islamic law is treated in several articles.