Author

I have published more than 25 books on the law, mainly on the law and practice of international finance and principally concerned with comparative law. I wrote nearly all of these while continuing a prodigiously demanding City practice which meant that I had to make some very hard choices on how I spent the little time I had left. In practice, I spent as much time as I could in reading subjects other than my own, especially science, economics and history.

There were several firsts in these books, including the first book on the law and practice of international finance in the new eurodollar markets, published in 1980 and now a collector’s item.

Antique wooden desk with stacks of legal books and two lamps in front of large leaded glass windows with visible greenery outside.

A collection of my published books on my desk

Five books on international finance law and practice in various languages, standing on a table in front of arched windows with a garden view.

My university textbook and translations

I developed a series of key legal indicators which enabled lawyers to accurately and correctly measure legal systems and identify all the 320 jurisdictions and their legal origins (the families of law) so far as financial law was concerned (and hence many other domains of law). This research was first published in works around 1995 and subsequently developed in further publications.

My comparative law university textbook on international financial law, was published in 2008 and translated into Japanese, Korean and Chinese

I published books of coloured maps of international financial law on a branded and simplified map of the world which dramatically improved the task of comparing legal systems at a glance.

World map showing jurisdictions by legal system: American common law (dark blue), English common law (blue), Mixed civil/common law (orange), Islamic law (red), Napoleonic law (yellow), Roman-Germanic law (light green), New law (dark green), and unallocated jurisdictions (white).

Key map of jurisdictions

Philip Wood in a gray blazer and blue pants standing next to two tall stacks of papers and binders against a brick wall outside.

Eight years of drafts of a 1300-page book on set-off.

Some books took many years to write, while others were quick.

In 2019, I published 9 volumes in one year on the law and practice of international finance, totalling 3,000,000 words, adding a million words to the existing edition. This was probably one of the few times for several decades that a single author on law had published so much in one year – a measure of the extent to which the law was becoming out of control.

Philip Wood wearing glasses and a white striped shirt sitting at a dark wooden table with a stack of blue and red binders.

12 days over Christmas of a draft of a book on world insolvency law

Some reviewer comments on my books are:

“classics”, “amazing”, “ground-breaking”, “revolutionary”, “monumental”, “pioneering”, “unique”, “a remarkable and scholarly achievement”, “superb”, “immensely valuable in its breadth of compass”, “magnificent”, “authoritative”, “a lasting influence”, “intellectual feast of grand proportions”, and “towering scholarship”.

Stack of nine black hardcover legal books on international finance and insolvency by Philip R. Wood, each with a different colored spine label.

Nine volumes and 3,000,000 words

Survival Codes

World Law and the Future of Humanity

My latest book is entitled “Survival Codes: World Law and the Future of Humanity,” published in 2025. I believe that this is my most important book by far.

Survival Codes explains that the world's laws are the largest and most comprehensive codes of conduct for survival that humanity has - and what is at stake as that system comes under strain. Written for readers in every discipline, it offers a rare, accessible overview of global law and asks whether our legal structures are strong enough to prevent catastrophe.

The book is obtainable from Amazon and all good bookshops, priced at £35.

Available from Blackwells, Amazon, Browns, Foyles, Hatchards, Hive, TG Jones, Waterstones, leading law bookshop Wildys, and others. ISBN 9781919318837