First American Edition of

“A Classic of High Character”

* First American edition, published the same year as the first London edition, to which it is star paged. With a subscriber list that includes Thomas Biddle, Horace Binney, Peter S. DuPonceau and Bird Wilson. Considered “a legal classic of high character” by Marvin, Abbott’s treatise was the first devoted exclusively to the law of shipping. James Kent used it in his Commentaries on American Law; Joseph Story, who held it in high regard, added notes to the second American edition. Marvin, Legal Bibliography (1847) 47. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 1560. See illustration below.

An Important Belgian Code

* Only edition. Hainault is a province in southern Belgium that includes the cities of Chimay, Mons and Tournai. It was part of the Spanish Netherlands during the reign of Archdukes Albert and Isabelle, which lasted from 1601 to 1633. (Isabella was the sole ruler after Albert’s death in 1621.) Hainault flourished during their reign. Important legal reformers, they issued the Edict Perpetuum in 1611, which codified the local laws. It became an influential code throughout the Low Countries. Institution et Establissement is a 660-article guide to their codified system. KVK locates 3 copies. 1 copy located in North America at Harvard Law School. Not in the British Museum Catalogue or Camus. See illustration below.

8. Alexander, Gregory S. Commodity and Propriety: Competing Visions of Property in American Legal Thought 1776-1970. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, [1997]. vii, 486 pp. Cloth very good in lightly worn dust jacket. Author inscription to free endpaper, interior otherwise clean.  $65.

* First edition.

The Church of England in the Colonies

* Second edition. The Church of England was one of the principal institutions of colonial administration in the British Empire, and a good deal of its law was passed on to the ecclesiastical and civil legal systems in the countries that grew out of the empire. This book traces the history of the Church in the colonies from 1496 to the 1850s. Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 130. British Museum Catalogue (Compact Edition) [BMC] 1:633.

“The Imperfections of Circumstantial Evidence”

* Sole edition. The “imperfections of circumstantial evidence” are explored in the four sections of this book: “Extraordinary Individuals” (Arnaud du Tilh/Martin Guerre, William Lithgow, Ninon de l’Enclos, James Crichton, Mother Damnable, Lodowick Muggleton, Aphra Behn, John Cottington, the Chevalier d’Eon, Susanna Maria Cibber, Titus Oates, Peter the Wild Boy, Thomas Venner, Madame de Maintenon, Catherine de Medici, Charlotte Corday, and Valentine Greatraks, &c.); “Circumstantial Evidence” (Elizabeth Canning, Louis de la Pivardiere, &c.); “Credulity and Fanaticism” (Savonarola, Robert-Francois Damiens, Peter Rombert, &c.); “Voluntary Human Suffering” (Simeon Stylites, Suttee, Female Infanticide, the Indian Penance of Five Fires, Pranporee, &c); “Interesting Occurences” (miners of Bois-Monzil, Jacques du Moulin, Charles XII, Algerine Conspiracy, Escapes from Prison, John James/Johann Jacob Heidegger, the Reign of Terror, &c). OCLC locates 8 copies.

Angell’s Classic Treatise on Watercourses

* Second edition. The first edition of this classic treatise was published in 1824. Its final edition, the seventh, appeared in 1877. “The law in relation to water courses is becoming daily of increased importance, and Mr. Angell, in his work, has commendably discussed the subject. Local legislation has altered, in many of the states, the common law relative to water courses, but this does not preclude the necessity in many cases of resorting to well settled principles in order to expound these legislative acts. No intelligent lawyer can well practice without Mr. Angell’s treatise on water courses.”: Kent, Commentaries on American Law III:453 cited in Marvin 62. Cohen 7932.

 For the Merchant, Broker and Underwriter

* Only American edition, published the same year as the first (and only) London edition. “The present excellent system of maritime jurisprudence, so enlarged in principle, and liberal in practice, is detailed in works too voluminous to afford a ready and practicable reference to the merchant, the broker, or the underwriter; the Compiler, therefore, has abridged the law and the dicta on adjudged cases of insurance, arranging the whole under distinct heads to serve as a vade mecum to every class of readers, who may comprehend with facility, and decide with confidence.”: Preface v-vi. Annesley was a barrister of the Middle Temple and a London solicitor. Sheffield [1857-1919], a member of a distinguished Rhode Island family, was a U.S. Congressman and Senator. OCLC locates 37 copies. Cohen 7050.

Uncommon Austrian Treatise on Bankruptcy

* Second edition, and the final authorial edition. With title summaries and subject and name indexes. Arnold was a privy counsellor to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. This uncommon treatise addresses bankruptcy and the law of debtor and creditor and auctions and auctioneers. First published in 1693, it went through two further editions in 1715 and 1735. This edition not in the BMC. Not in Goldsmiths. No copies on OCLC. KVK locates 4 copies of this edition, 14 copies of all editions.

Notable for Its “Curious and Diffuse Learning”

* Only edition. This treatise was probably derived from a manuscript by Sir Jeffrey Gilbert, one of the manuscripts that formed the basis of Bacon’s Abridgment (1736-1766). Whatever its origin, this treatise was a respected authority. Blackstone cites it the Commentaries (1765-1769); Barton says it “contains a great deal of curious and diffuse learning” in his Elements of Conveyancing (1802). Barton’s opinion was repeated by Marvin in 1847 and Sweet and Maxwell in 1955. Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, Volume II 313. Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations 1:479 (3).

“A Guide to All Men in Business”

* Sixth Edition. Considerably enlarged and improved by Thomas Mortimer. Beawes was a merchant and his book was intended not so much as a law book, as “a guide to all men in business.” Nonetheless the Lex Mercatoria, “though primarily designed rather for the merchant, has been frequently cited in courts of justice, and its authority, in some cases, has become the basis of decisions in those courts.” Marvin 105. Kent in his Commentaries observed that “it contains a full and very valuable collection of the rules and usages of law on the subject of bills of exchange. Beawes is frequently cited in our books as an authority in mercantile customs.”: Kent, Commentaries III:126. Sweet & Maxwell 1:518(7). Kress Library of Economics B.2885. See illustration below.

Bentham Criticizes

the Corps of Special Crown Jurors

* First edition. In his Elements of the Art of Packing Bentham attacks the use of a corps of special jurors who were employed by the Crown, and are therefore susceptible to Crown influence. It is in this work that Bentham lays down the principle that the libel law is incompatible with English liberties. Sweet & Maxwell 2:27.

Two Important Tracts by Bentham

17. Bentham, Jeremy. The Rationale of Reward. London: Published by John and H.L. Hunt, 1825. viii, 352, [1] pp.

* First and second English editions, respectively. The material presented in the first English edition had been originally published in French by Dumont. The editor of the English edition notes that it differs from the literal translations of Dumont, and prints Bentham’s remarks regarding this edition. In his famous tract on Parliamentary reform, Bentham recommended the exclusion of place men from the House of Commons, annual elections, uniform electoral districts, the suffrage to all who paid a certain amount of taxes, and secret balloting. Impressed by the dangers to the security of English liberties, Bentham published his Plan of Parliamentary Reform almost ten years after it had been written. In his introduction “he pointed out that the sole remedy was democratic ascendancy, and to bring about this parliamentary reform, the establishment of virtual universal suffrage and vote by ballot was necessary.”: Dictionary of National Biography II:275, Sweet & Maxwell 2:28.

Berger’s Electa Disceptationum

* Second edition. With voluminous index. This treatise on Saxon civil procedure was first published in 1706. Berger was a notable Saxon jurist. The present title is one of his principal works. Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 2:375

1745 German Treatise on

Executive Process, Possession and Marriage

* Third edition, incorporating the new Kur-Saxon trial procedure [code]. First published in 1704, this popular treatise addresses executive process, possession and marriage. “In his discussion. Berger takes individual points and treats them in detail using practical examples.”: Stintzing/Landesberg, Geschichte der Deutschen Rechtswissenschaft 3:154, n.99.

Legal Satire in the Age of Dickens and Trollope

* Only edition. A substantial satire by an English lawyer who retired from the bar and moved to Paris. With its thinly veiled references to prominent solicitors, chief clerks, magistrates and politicians, it is an engaging account of the Chancery courts during the age of Dickens and Trollope. Its tone is set immediately in the first line: “Oh! Court of Equity, misnamed, where doubt / Leads many in; whence few, or none, get out.” OCLC locates 27 copies. BMC 3:864.

Final, Enlarged Edition of Blount’s Dictionary

* Third and final edition. Enlarged by W. Nelson. Nelson claimed to have added nearly three thousand words, which he collected from all the laws of the Saxon, Danish and Norman kings. Blount’s Dictionary was first published in 1670, and along with Rastell’s, Cowell’s and Spelman’s, is one of the earliest English law dictionaries printed. Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth 1:6. Cowley, A Bibliography of Abridgments, Digest, Dictionaries and Indexes to the Year 1800 202. See illustration below.

1653 Volume on the English Civil War

With an Essay by John Selden

* Only edition. Published shortly before Cromwell was declared Lord Protector, this fascinating essay collection documents the constitutional controversies that led to the English Civil War. Intended for the Dutch market, it was edited and translated into Latin (where necessary) by Boxhorn, a notable Dutch historian. (Some records state erroneously that the editor is John Selden.) Among the contributions is Selden’s essay “Janus Anglorum; In Quo Prophanum Anglo-Britanniae Ius Succincte Proponitur.” Originally written in 1610, it is a history of English law from its origins to the reign of Henry II (1154-1189). KVK locates 35 copies. Not in Dekkers or the BMC. See illustration below.

“Choice Writs”

* First edition. “There hath bin, of late, Published many books of Judicial Wits, and other proceedings in the Courts at Westminster. And observing that some special Writs now much in use, are wanting in those Books; I have been importuned to make a supply of such Special Writs as were not taken notice of in the Former Tracts; To which purpose I have procured a Collection to be made of divers Writs out of the Books and Presidents of Mr. Richard Antrobius and Mr. Thomas Impey, deceased, both known men of great Abilities in their Courts of King’s-Bench and Common Pleas.”: Preface [iii]. OCLC locates 5 copies. Catalogue of the Library of the Law School of Harvard University (1909) [HLC] I:59.

Guidance For the Novice Clerk

* First edition. Brown was Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas and the author of several pleading manuals. Sweet & Maxwell 1:264(29). See illustration below.

* The stirring speech that ended the prosecution’s closing argument at the Scopes “Monkey” Trial. Bryan died five days later on July 26, 1925. OCLC locates 28 copies.

Commentary of the Coutumes of Burgundy Bound

with Illustrated Treatise on

Burgundian Heraldry and Nobility

28. [Burgundy]. Chasseneux, Barthelemy de [c.1480-1541]. Consuetudines Ducatus Burgundiae Fereque Totius Galliae: Commentariis D. Bartholomaei a Chassenaeo, Ut Amplissimis, Ita Doctissimis Illustratae, Summaq; Diligentia & Labore Recognitae. Ex Ultima Auctoris Recognitione. Accessit Index Locupletissimus, Summa Side Pristino Nitori Restitutus. Frankfurt: Ex Officina Martini Lechleri, Impensis Sigismundi Feyrabend, 1590. [xii], 1438 columns, [70] pp.

Folio (9" x 14"). Contemporary vellum with lapped edges, early hand-lettered titles to spine, ties lacking. Light soiling, boards slightly bowed, some worming along edges. Vellum beginning to crack through pastedowns, which have some worming. Some worming to endleaves, a few worm holes to title page of Consuetudines. Title pages of Consuetudines and Catalogus printed in red and black, that of Consuetudines has a large woodcut printer device depicting fame within an architectural border by Jost Amman. Both works have attractive head-pieces, tail-pieces and decorated initials. Consuetudines has four half-page woodcuts descent tables; Catalogus has 50 woodcuts of heraldic devices and coats of arms. Occasional faint dampstaining and light browning, negligible worming to a few places. Ex-library. Early hand-lettered location number to spine. “Collegii Societatis Jesu Burg. Anno 1653” in fine hand to head of title page, later deaccession stamp to verso. An appealing copy of two scarce titles.  $2,500.

* Consuetidines: later edition, the last issued in the sixteenth century; Catalogus: third edition. First published in 1517, Consuetidines is a systematic study of the customary law (coutumes) of Burgundy with comparisons to laws in other parts of France. Chasseneux’s principal work and a treatise of great authority, it was issued several times well into the seventeenth century. (The final imprint appeared in 1647.) Illustrated with handsome woodcuts, the second work is an exhaustive treatise on heraldry, titles of honor and the dignities of nobles, as well as a taxonomy of Burgundian society. It was first published in 1529. A final issue was printed in 1690. Chasseneux was a Burgundian jurist and counsellor of the Parlement of Paris. Consuetidines: Gouron and Terrin, Bibliographie des Coutumes de France 640. Not in the BMC or Adams. Catalogus: Verzeichnis der im Deutschen Sprachraum Erschienenen Drucke des 17. Jahrhunderts [VD 17] 12:109654U. See illustration below.