First American Edition 1812 Connecticut JP Manual

6. Backus, Joseph [fl.1812]. The Complete Constable: Containing his Office, Duties and Authority; With the Manner and Forms of Executing the Same, According to the Common and Statute Laws, Now in Use in the State of Connecticut. Hartford: Printed for the Author, 1812. [iv], [9]-134, [8] pp. Octavo (5" x 8"). Contemporary calf, maroon spine label. Scuffing to rear board, corners bumped, internally clean. A very appealing copy.  $200.
*First edition. Backus was a lawyer and justice of the peace who practiced in Stratford, Connecticut. A prefatory note by James Gould, a judge of the Connecticut Superior Court and distinguished member of the Litchfield Law School faculty, states: “This work...a compilation of rules, selected from the Statute Laws of Connecticut, books of Reports, and Treatises of approved authority, embodies...a collection of valuable rules of practices, which I have not found digested in any other work” ([iii]). Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard Law School (1909) I:101. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 8328. Shaw and Shoemaker, American Bibliography 24666.

Significant American Admiralty Treatise

7. Benedict, Erastus C. [1800-1880]. The American Admiralty: Its Jurisdiction and Practice with Practical Forms and Directions. New York: Banks, Gould & Co., 1850. xiii, 651 pp. Octavo (6" x 9"). Original calf, red and black lettering pieces. Moderate edgewear, front hinge starting near head, light scuffing to boards and backstrip. Early signatures and annotations to endleaves and title page, interior clean and bright. An attractive, well-preserved copy. $650.
* First edition. At the time of its publication there were other popular treatises published on the subject, but the particular American viewpoint and practicality of this work qualified it to surpass the others. The work is today being published in its seventh edition, and is still recognized as the premier work on the subject. Benedict, a noted lawyer and educator, was considered to be “one of the foremost admiralty lawyers of his day.” Dictionary of American Biography I:177. HLC I:152.

Last Edition Revised by Edward Christian, Highly Regarded by Holdsworth

8. Blackstone, Sir William [1723-1780]. Commentaries on the Laws of England. In Four Books. With the Last Corrections and with Notes and Additions by Edward Christian. London: Printed by A. Strahan for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1809. Four volumes. Gainsborough frontispiece portrait engraved by J. Hall, 2 tables (1 folding). Star-paged. Octavo (5" x 8"). Bookseller’s label and owner’s stamp on front endpapers. Modern quarter calf in period style over cloth boards. A very attractive set.  $1,500.
* Fifteenth edition, first (?) printing (with the half-title in volume I [which from a collation of the signatures is the only volume which ever had a half-title], and with one variation on Eller: the index in the final volume has 71 pages followed by an advertisement leaf). Edward Christian “had a good knowledge of old law and legal history, and there is no doubt that his edition of Blackstone is good and that some of his notes are learned and useful.” Holdsworth, History of English Law XIII:480. Elsewhere Holdsworth call him “the author of a very good edition of Blackstone’s Commentaries.” This is the last edition which was revised by Christian, with his notes printed as footnotes. “During the period when Christian was editing his four editions of the Commentaries, he was preparing a supplemental volume to Blackstone’s Commentaries. He abandoned this project, and was induced to supply the present proprietors of the work, who were preparing a new edition, with notes, and to reserve the consideration of such subjects as have not been an immediate reference to any passage in the Commentaries for a separate supplemental volume.’” See Eller, The William Blackstone Collection in the Yale Law Library 27. The supplemental volume was probably never published. HLC I:187. See also Sweet & Maxwell, Bibliography of English Law, I:27-28(8).

Uncommon Blackstone Edition

9. Blackstone, Sir William. Commentaries on the Laws of England. Edited by William Carey Jones. San Francisco: Bancroft-Whitney Company. 1916. Four books in two volumes. Black limp morocco, gilt-stamped covers and spines, all edges gilt, ribbon markers. Some wear to joints and edges. Owner signatures to front free endpapers, internally clean. A very nice set. $450.
* Edition De Luxe. Very uncommon in the trade. Blackstone’s text is divided into sections, with bold topical headings; Volume 2 includes a supplementary chapter by Orrin Kip McMurray entitled “Conflict of Laws.” Jones’s introductory essay “Concerning the Commentaries" includes a fine biography of Blackstone. Bancroft-Whitney commissioned this deluxe edition to replace their eighth edition edited by William Hammond (1890). (The plates were destroyed in the San Francisco fire of 1906.) Jones retained Hammond’s useful bibliography, as well as his text and notes, and updated Hammond’s citations to to reflect developments after 1890. This edition resembles Eller 136. It does not contain a frontispiece, however, and the publication date in each volume is 1916. See Eller 136.

"Revolutionized Educational Methods"

10. Comenius, Johann Amos [1592-1670]. Janua Linguarum Reserata: Sive, Omnium Scientiarum & Linguarum Seminarium: Id Est, Compendiosa Latinam & Anglicam, Aliasq; Linguas, & artium Etiam Fundamenta Addiscendi Methodus; una Cum Januae Vestibulo. The Gate of Languages Unlocked: Or, A Seed-Plot of All Arts and Tongues; Containing a Readie Waie to Learn the Latine and English Tongue. Formerly Translated by Tho. Horn: Afterwards Much Corrected by Joh. Robotham: Now Carefully Reviewed by W.D. to Which is Premised a Portal. As Also, There is Now Newly Added the Foundation to the Janua, Conteining all or the Chief Primitives of the Latine Tongue, Drawn Into Sentences, in an Alphabetical Order by G.P. London: William Du-Gard, for Alexander Slater, 1650. Unpaginated. Portrait frontispiece in copper. Octavo (4" x 7-1/2"). Recent period-style quarter calf over cloth, endpapers renewed. Charming early annotations (by John and Thomas Brett) in fine hand to endleaves. Attractive woodcut head-pieces, tail-pieces and decorated initials. Occasional light foxing, worming to margins of some leaves with no loss to text. Quite an appealing copy. $800.
* With index, side-notes and glosses. This deeply influential textbook by the father of modern pedagogy was first published in 1631. Graesse observes: "Here is the principal work that revolutionized educational methods. It was reprinted often and translated into several languages. For example, there appeared an edition in Latin, Bohemian and German (Prague: Postrzehacz, 1667),...In Latin, French and Greek (Amsterdam, 1649) [and] in Latin, Russian, German, Italian and French (Moscow, 1768)." Graesse, Tresor de Livres Rare et Precieux. 1-2:234. Wing, Short-Title Catalog C5514. Brunet, Manuel du Libraire et de L'Amateur de Livres II: 180-181. British Museum Catalogue (Compact Edition) 14:281.

Complete Set of Cranch’s Reports

11. Cranch, William [1769-1855]. Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States. Volumes 1-4, New York: C. Wiley, 1812; Volumes 5-6, New York: Printed and Published by Isaac Riley, 1812; Volumes 7-9, Washington City: Printed by Daniel Rapine, 1816-1817. Nine volumes in all. Octavo (5" x 8"). Later tan buckram, red and black lettering pieces. Moderate shelfwear and soiling. Early owner signatures in pencil to title pages, foxing. Ex-corporate law office library. Card pockets and stamps to front pastedowns, additional stamps to front free endpapers. A solid set. $1,000.
* Volumes 1-4 second edition; volumes 5-9 first edition. With side-notes and indexes. Cranch's career as the Supreme Court's reporter, 1801 to 1815, coincided with the first fourteen years of Marshall's tenure as Chief Justice. His Reports contain Marshall's early opinions on several fundamental constitutional issues, which were articulated in such landmark decisions as Marbury v. Madison (1803) and Fletcher v. Peck (1810). "Because of the formative role of the Marshall Court in American constitutional history, the Supreme Court decisions reported by Cranch have been frequently cited and intensely studied, and that interest will undoubtedly continue" (Cohen and O'Connor). Cranch's volumes are also esteemed for the quality of their reporting. He followed the court's proceedings personally, wrote his own notes in shorthand and examined all relevant original documents. Taken together, these efforts enabled him to report arguments with greater accuracy than his predecessor, Alexander Dallas. Cohen and O'Connor, A Guide to the Early Reports of the Supreme Court of the United States 31-32, 127-134. HLC II: 790.

Scarce First Printing of Early Darrow Essay

12. Darrow, Clarence [1857-1938]. “Realism in Literature and Art.” The Arena IX (December, 1893): 98-113. (5-1/2" x 9"). Original printed wrappers. Worn and stained, splits to otherwise secure text block, occasional light dampstaining to margins. Still a good copy. $100.
* The first appearance of Darrow’s first essay on the arts. He rejects idealization in art and literature. Instead, life should be presented as it is. This essay was reissued several times, most notably as a chapter in his first book, A Persian Pearl and Other Essays (1899). Scarce. No copies on OCLC. Hunsberger, Clarence Darrow: A Bibliography 6.

Attractive Translation from Domesday

13. [Domesday Book]. Bawdwen, William [1762-1816], Translator. Dom Boc. A Translation of the Record Called Domesday, So Far as Relates to the Counties of Middlesex, Hertford, Buckingham, Oxford, and Gloucester. Doncaster: Printed by W. Sheardown, 1812. [iv], 26, 76, [3]-82, 62, 72, 2, 4, 3, 4, 6 pp. Five individually paginated chapters, five indexes. Each chapter preceded by half-title, one lacking. Quarto (8-1/2" x 10-1/2"). Three-quarter morocco over marbled boards, gilt-edged raised bands. Light wear to extremities, some rubbing to boards. Marbled edges and endpapers, armorial bookplate of Thomas Stapleton to front pastedown. Sporadic light foxing, brief notes to margins in early hand, interior otherwise clean and bright. Attractive. $450.
* Second edition. An invaluable record of Norman-era England, the Domesday Book is a comprehensive census and topological survey of English landowners and their property that was commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1085. Bawdwen’s partial translation is devoted to the five counties listed in the title. British Museum Catalogue (Compact Edition) 2:617.

First American Edition

14. Eden, Robert Henley. A Treatise on the Law of Injunctions. With Notes and References to American Decisions. Albany: Published by William Gould and Co. and Gould and Banks, 1822. vii, 334 pp. Later buckram, maroon lettering piece. Occasional light foxing, interior otherwise clean. $150.
* First American edition. With an appendix of forms. First published in England in 1821, this treatise provides a thorough overview of the subject’s principal topics. The sections dealing with patent infringement, copyright infringement and “vexatious litigation” are especially interesting. S&M II:107. HLC I:597.

Law-French Dictionary

15. F.O. The Law-French Dictionary Alphabetically Digested, Very Useful for All Young Students in the Common Laws of England. To Which is Added the Law-Latin Dictionary: Being an Alphabetical Collection of Such Law-Latin Words as Are Found in Several Authentic Manuscripts, and Printed Books of Precedents, whereby Entring-Clerks, and Others, May be Furnished with Fit and Proper Words, in a Common Law Sense, for Any Thing They Shall Have Occasion to Make Use of, in Drawing Declarations, or Any Parts of Pleading. Also, A More Compendious and Accurate Exposition of the terms of teh Common Law (Interspers’d Throughout) Than in any Hitherto Extant, Containing Many Important Words of Art Used in Law Books. Collected Out of the Best Authors by F.O. London: Printed for Isaac Cleave and John Hartley, 1701. Two Volumes in one, each with title page. Unpaginated. Octavo (4-1/2" x 7-1/2"). Recent period-style quarter calf over cloth, raised bands, red lettering piece. Signature in fine hand and clean tear at foot of title page, handsome contemporary armorial bookplate in copper to verso. Minor marginal worming and light dampstaining to a few leaves, text otherwise clean. Ex-library. Institution stamp to title page, rear free endpaper and a few leaves. A handsome copy. $750.
* First edition. The second edition was issued in 1718. This was followed in 1179 by Kelham’s, A Dictionary of the Norman or Old French Language. The Law-French dictionary is French-English; the Law-Latin dictionary is English-Latin. Cited authors include Brook, Coke, Crompton, Fitzherbert, Littleton and Plowden. Sweet & Maxwell I: 9. HLC I: 1124.

Fonblanque’s Equity

16. Fonblanque, John de Grenier [1762-1837]. [Laussat, Antony (1806-1833)]. A Treatise of Equity. With the Addition of Marginal References and Notes. Fourth American Edition: With References to American Chancery Decisions, and Additional Notes, By Antony Laussat. Brookfield: Published by E. and L. Merriam, 1835. Two volumes in one book. xx, 695 pp. Octavo (6" x 9"). Original law calf, red and black lettering pieces, moderate wear to extremities, front joint just staring, scuffing to rear board and foot of spine, early owner name lettered to backstrip. Occasional light foxing, interior otherwise clean. A solid copy. $150.
* “Up to the publication of Joseph Story’s Commentaries on Equity [1838], Fonblanque’s Equity was for one hundred years the best elementary book on equity in use in America.” Warren, A History of the American Bar 150-151. Sweet & Maxwell I:256(12). HLC I:707.

Heineccius on Justinian

17. Heineccius, Jo[hannes] Gottl[ieb] [1681-1741]. Elementa Juris Civilis Secundum Ordinem Institutionum, Commoda Auditoribus Methodo Adornata, Editio Sexta. Emendatior et Indicibus Necessariis Aucta. Amsterdam: Franciscum L’Honore, et Filium, 1747. xv, [i], 418, [28] pp. Octavo (5" x 7-1/2"). Contemporary calf, raised bands. Worn and scuffed, chipping to head of spine, early shelf label to foot. Later bookplate to front pastedown, front free endpaper lacking. Title page with attractive printer’s device printed in red and black, handsome head-piece. Small early owner signature to title page, minor stains to a few leaves, text otherwise clean and bright. $200.
* With indexes of titles, authors and subjects. Revised sixth edition of work first published 1725. Heineccius was a prominent German jurist and a professor of jurisprudence and philosophy at Halle. He belonged to the school of philosophical jurists who attempted to treat law as a rational discipline rather than as an empirical craft based on custom and expediency. This important study of Justinian’s Institutes epitomizes his devotion to a conception of law as a philosophical system. This edition not in Graesse or Brunet. Walker, The Oxford Companion to Law 559. Encyclopedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition) 13:215.

Mandated by Thomas Jefferson

18. Hening, William Waller [1767/8-1828]. The Statutes at Large; being A Collection of all the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in the year 1619; Published pursuant to an Act of the General Assembly of Virginia, Passed on the Fifth Day of February One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eight. New York: Printed for the Editor, by R.& W.& G. Bartow, 1823 and others. Thirteen volumes. Original full calf, worn, with original gilt decorated red and green spine labels, most intact. Four volumes lacking lower labels, vol. VII lacking upper label. Six volumes hinges cracked but holding. Ex-library, with bookplates on front pastedowns. Volume II small hole to bottom margin of one leaf, not affecting text, Volume VI tiny hole in outer margin, not affecting text. As noted in Tower, we find for the most part that “The Certificate &c., is usually pasted on the back of the title page.” A very desirable set. $3,500.
* Second edition (best edition according to Tower) volumes I-IV, first edition remaining volumes. Uncommon complete set, in their original bindings. In the preface of volume I it notes that only 350 of the first four volumes were printed, and 500 of the later volumes, thus vols. I-IV went to second edition with the completion of vol. XIII in 1823. These volumes represent the legislation and political history of Virginia from 1619 to 1792, as they include the laws and official papers from the first session of the state’s colonial Assembly in 1619 through 1792. Authorized by the Virginia legislature and mandated by Thomas Jefferson, who first collected and provided many of the documents to Hening. Sowerby describes the publishing process and Jefferson’s involvement, concluding with the promotional letter Jefferson provided Hening to aid Hening’s efforts to increase his subscription, “...The opinion I entertain of the importance of the work may be justly inferred from the trouble & expense I incurred during the earliest part of my life, to save such remains of our antient laws as were then still in existence. The compilation appears to be correctly & judiciously made, and gives us exactly what I had so long considered as a desideratum for our country. It sheds a new light on our early history, and furnishes additional security to the tenure of our rights & property.” Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson II:255-261. DAB. See Bryson, A Bibliography of Virginia Legal History Before 1900 518, for bibliographic details. HLC I: 911. Sabin 31339. Tower, The Charlemagne Tower Collection of Colonial Laws 263.

Rare First German Edition of The Common Law

19. Holmes, Oliver Wendell [1841-1935]. Das Gemeine Recht Englands und Nordamerikas (The Common Law) in Elf Abhandlungen dargestellt von Dr. O.W. Holmes, Jr. Mitglied des Obersten Gerichshofes der Vereinigten Staaten in Washington. Leipzig: Verlag von Duncker & Humblot, 1912. xix, 423 pp. Octavo (6" x 9"). Original three quarter gilt stamped cloth, marbled boards and edges, very lightly worn. Bookplate on inside front pastedown. A very nice and attractive copy.  $1,200.
* First German edition. The title page also indicates in German that this work was translated with permission of the author by Dr. Rudolph Leonhard, Professor of the University of Breslau and Doctor of Laws of Columbia University.

First Edition of The Common Law

20. Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. The Common Law. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1881. [i]-xvi, 422 pp. (+ two blanks). Octavo (5-1/2" x 8-1/4"). Original maroon cloth. Light chipping to head and foot of spine, early owner signature to title page, light fading to spine, front hinge just starting. Bookseller’s ticket to rear pastedown, interior clean and bright. A nice copy. $1,200.
* First edition, second issue. In 1880, Holmes was delivered a series of lectures at Boston’s Lowell Institute. These formed the basis of his deeply influential masterpiece, The Common Law, which was published in several languages to great acclaim. In contrast to earlier Anglo-American jurists, and the reigning positivist ethos of the nineteenth century, Holmes proposed that the law was not a science founded on abstract principles. This radical theme is announced at the beginning of Lecture I: “The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience” (1). Winfield observes that Holmes’s “brilliant exposition, as effective on English scholarship and legal thinking as on American, of the true nature of law both as a development from the past and an organism of the present, blew fresh air into lawyer’s minds encrusted with Blackstone and Kent” (Winfield). Grolier Club Exhibition, One Hundred Influential American Books 84. Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 911. Winfield, Chief Sources 38. HLC I:945.

With Several Law Entries by Joseph Story

21. Lieber, Francis [1800-1872], Editor, Assisted by E. Wigglesworth. [1804-1876] and T.G. Bradford [1802-1887]. Encyclopedia Americana: A Popular Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature, History, Politics and Biography. A New Edition; Including a Copious Collection of Original Articles in American Biography; on the Basis of the Seventh Edition of the German Conversations-Lexicon. Philadelphia: Desilver, Thomas & Company, 1836. Thirteen volumes. Octavo (5" x 9"). Original polished calf, red lettering pieces, gilt rules and ornaments to spines, marbling to edges and endpapers. Moderate wear to backstrips, joints and tips. Occasional light foxing throughout. An appealing set. $1,000.
* Edited by Francis Lieber, who engaged several distinguished specialists to update and enhance the original Conversations-Lexicon (published by Brockhaus) for an American audience. The more than 120 pages of (unsigned) entries on natural law, American and English law written by Joseph Story are especially noteworthy. (See W.W. Story, Life and Letters of Joseph Story I: 26-27.) McClellan, Joseph Story and the American Constitution 66-67, 283.

Appealing 1556 Tottel Edition of Magna Charta

22. [Magna Charta]. Magna Charta, Cvm Statvtisquae Antiqua Vocantur, iam Recens Excusa, & Summa Fide Emendata, Iuxta Vetusta Exemplatia ad Parliamenti Rotulos Examinata: Quibus Accesserunt Nonnulla Nunc Primum Typis Edita. [with] Secunda Pars Veterum Statutorum. [London]: Richard Tottel, 1556. [viii], 170, [2]; [1], 2-72 ff. Two parts in one, each with title page. Octavo (3-1/2" x 5-1/2"). Later tree calf (by Birdball and Son, Northampton). Double fillet to boards, raised bands, lettering piece to second compartment, gilt ornaments to other compartments, speckled edges, blind-stamped inside dentelles, charming decorated initials. Light rubbing and a few minor scuffs to exterior, boards skillfully reattached, endpapers renewed. Text remarkably fresh and tight. A very nice copy indeed. $3,000.
* First edition by Tottel. Part one contains a general index; each part has a table of statutes. This edition, which includes the Charta de Foresta and other “veterum statutum,” contains one of the earliest printings of the Magna Charta. The first edition was printed around 1508 by Richard Pynson. In 1553, Tottel was granted an exclusive seven-year patent to print all “duly authorized books on the common law” (Dugdale). His patent was renewed several times over the following forty years. During that time he became one of the most important legal publishers of the sixteenth century. Dugdale, Origines Juridicales 59-60. Beale, A Bibliography of Early English Law Books S16, S24. Sweet & Maxwell I:552 (1,6). Graesse, Tresor de Livres Rare et Precieux, Volume 3-4 337. Lowndes, Bibliographer’s Manual of English Literature (Revised Edition, 1864) 1450. Pollard and Redgrave, Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland and Ireland 9278.

Taxation Issue that Helped to Provoke the English Civil War

23. [Manuscript]. [Charles I [1600-1649]]. Charles I and the Ship-Money. Opinions of the Judges. Manuscript volume compiled by a professional copyist in 1638 and 1639. Unpaginated (c350 pp). Folio (7" x 11"). Later vellum with ties, endpapers renewed, one tie lacking. Occasional faint dampstaining, other light stains due to flower-pressing. In all a handsomely bound volume written in an attractive hand.  $2,500.
* A contemporary copy of legal arguments in the Exchequer Chamber by Baron Weston, Judge Crawley, Justice Berkeley, Baron Vernon, Baron Trevor, Judge Crooke, Judge Jones, Judge Hutton, Baron Denham, Lord Chief Baron Davenport, Sir John Finch (Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas) and Sir John Brampston (Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench). This unique manuscript relates to one of the crucial controversies of Charles I’s reign that led to the English Civil War. Ship money was a tax levied in port towns for their protection by the navy. Charles I lacked money both for the fleet and other expenses, so he levied a tax on London in 1634. He extended the tax to the entire nation in 1635. Resistance began to develop over the following three years, especially among the landed classes. Claiming that taxation was a right exclusive to Parliament, some nobles refused to pay. Their action eventually led to a test case on the legality of nonparliamentary taxation. Unfortunately for the nobles, the judges found for the King by a narrow majority. Parliament, in turn, declared ship money illegal in 1641.

General Laws of Massachusetts, 1780-1831

24. [Massachusetts]. Stearns, Asahel [1774-1839] and Shaw, Lemuel [1781-1861], Commissioners. Metcalf, Theron [1784-1875], Editor. The General Laws of Massachusetts, From the Adoption of the Constitution, to February, 1822. With the Constitutions of the United States and of this Commonwealth, Together With Their Respective Amendments, Prefixed. Revised and Published by Authority of the Legislature, in Conformity with a Resolution Passed. 22d February, 1822. Boston: Wells & Lilly and Cummings & Hilliard, 1823. Two volumes. [with] Metcalf, Theron. The General Laws of Massachusetts. From June 1822, to June 1831. Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little, and Wilkins, 1832. [iv], 419 pp. Together three volumes. Octavo (6" x 9"). Later buckram, light shelfwear. Small early owner stamps to title pages (verso) of Volume I and II, a few brief early annotations throughout, interiors otherwise notably fresh. A nice set. $300.
* Complete first edition (Volume III is a continuation). With glosses. The text of the U.S. Constitution includes the proposed Thirteenth Amendment of 1810. (An annotation in the margin states “See Rawle/See [illegible]/ Not Ratified.”) A second series of general laws edited by Metcalf and others was published in three volumes between 1836 and 1859. HLC II:79-80.

Glimpses of New Hampshire in 1878

25. Morrison, Charles Robert [1819-1893]. New Hampshire Town Officer: Containing the General Law of 1878 (Other Than School Laws) and Acts Since Passed Relating to Towns and Cities. With Decisions, Directions, and Forms. Concord: Published by J.B. Sanborn, 1886. [xii], 498 pp. Octavo (5" x 8"). Law calf, maroon lettering piece. Moderate edgewear, minor scuffs to boards, front hinge starting. In all, a remarkably well-preserved copy. $100.
* Contents include “Militia,” “Town Lines,” “Town-Meetings,” “Fences and Common Fields,” “Strays and Lost Goods,” “Floating Timber,” “Mills and Their Repairs,” “Subjects of Taxation,” “Making and Repairing Highways,” “Insane Persons and Spendthrifts,” “County Paupers,” “Sale of Intoxicating Liquors,” “Pestilential Diseases,” “Tramp Act,” “Special Policemen and Night Watchmen,” “Cities and Wards” and “Clerk and Other City Officers.”

Scarce Treatise on Illegitimacy

26. Nicolas, Sir Harris [1799-1848]. A Treatise on the Law of Adulterine Bastardy, With a Report of the Banbury Case, and of All Other Cases Bearing Upon the Subject. London: William Pickering, 1836. xvi, 588, 9 pp. Includes a nine-page annotated bibliography of the author’s works. Octavo (5-1/2" x 9"). Expertly rebacked with paper spine label over contemporary paper boards, uncut edges, front hinge repaired. Minor tear to a leaf with no loss to text, presentation inscription by author to half-title, innocuous early owner annotations to a few leaves, interior otherwise clean. $500.
* With index and side-notes. “The following treatise is the first attempt to collect all the authorities and decisions on the law of legitimacy in this country, and to deduce from them the history and present state of the law on that important subject. (...) The author of this volume deceives himself, if a perusal of it will not convince the profession of two facts, either of which would justify its publication; first, that the law has undergone important changes, in consequence of a mistaken view having been taken of previous authorities; and secondly, that there are not sufficient grounds for the opinions which now prevail respecting the law on the subject” (Preface, vii-viii). The Banbury Case concerns a peerage claim by William Knollys [1763-1834], the natural son of the Earl of Banbury. Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations II:257.

With Texts of Several Indian Treaties

27. [Public Lands]. Laws of The United States, Resolutions of Congress Under the Confederation, Treaties, Proclamations, Spanish Regulations, and Other Documents Respecting the Public Lands. Compiled in Obedience to a Resolution of the House of Representatives of the United States, Passed First March, 1826, and Printed by an Order Dated Nineteenth February, 1827. Washington: Printed by Gales & Seaton, 1828. xiii, 1095 pp. Octavo (5-1/2" x 9"). Original calf, maroon lettering piece, blind stamped fillet to boards. Some wear to joints, small chip to rear board, head of spine bumped, small scuff to lettering piece. Early owner stamps to front pastedown and free endpaper, light foxing to text. Appealing. $200.
* First edition. With a thorough index and an extensive multi-part appendix of tables and source materials. Covering eastern and mid-western states, this volume is a compilation of Congressional laws and resolutions passed between 1781 and 1826 that relate to early settlement, military bounties, the establishment of territories, land pre-emption, payment, relief, sales, surveyance, school lands and states formed from territories ceded by Great Britain, France and Spain. Also contains numerous Indian treaties and an abstract of Indian treaties. (A companion volume entitled Laws of the United States, Treatise, Regulations, and Other Documents Respecting the Public Lands, with the Opinions of the Courts of the United States in Relation Thereto; to March 1833... was printed by D. Green in 1836.) Cohen, BEAL 7927. Sabin 39431.

Notable Law Dictionary by an Early English Printer

28. [Rastell, John (d.1536)]. Les Termes de la Ley: Or, Certain Difficult and Obscure Words and Terms of the Common and Statute Laws of this Realm, now in Use, Expounded and Explained. Corrected and Enlarged, with the Addition of Many Other Words: Particularly of Those that have Been Lately Introduced Into the Statute Law of Great Britain, Never Printed Before in any Other Impression. [London]: Printed by Eliz. Nutt and R. Gosling for R. Gosling, 1721. [iv], 592 pp. Octavo (5" x 8"). Modern quarter calf, cloth boards, raised bands, red lettering piece. Title page soiled, text block sound. Ex-library. Ownership stamp to title page, and a few leaves. $750.
* Later edition. “The first general English dictionary published was preceded in point of time by the first law dictionary. Elyot’s Dictionarie appeared in 1538, while Rastell’s Expositiones Terminorum Legum Anglorum came from the press eleven years earlier. in 1527. Being in alphabetical order of words, it set the model for Elyot. Moreover, it had a longer life ‘in print’ than Elyot. Of the latter, six editions were published, while the former, under its old and its new title, Termes de la Ley, Adopten in 1624, ran to at least twenty-nine editions, the last appearing in 1819. [It is a work] which...[clearly] reflects the common law at the close of the year-book period” (Marke). Rastell was more than just a legal scholar, he was an “impressario, adventurer, litigant, artist, historian, pamphleteer” (Graham). Rastell, though trained as a lawyer (at Oxford and Lincoln’s Inn) was also a printer. “As a printer he seems to have begun some time after 1516...The majority of the books he issued were legal.” (DNB) Rastell published at least one book with Wynkyn de Worde. Worde was Caxton’s successor, and an important English printer of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The book’s authorship is attributed sometimes to his brother William, who may have collaborated in its production. Marke 1203. H. Graham, “Rastell and the Printed English Law Book of the Renaissance”, 47 Law Library Journal 6, 20 [1954]. Dictionary of National Biography XVI: 746-747. Marvin 599. HLC II: 424. S&M I:11.

1615 English Edition of Rastell’s Statutes

29. [Rastell, William (1508-1565)]. A Collection in English, of the Statutes Now in Force, Continued From the Beginning of Magna Charta, Made in the 9. Yere of the Raigne of H.3. Untill the End of Parliament Holden in the 7. Yere of the Raigne of Our Soueraigne Lord King Iames,.. Hereunto are Added Two Tables: The One. Declaring Under Titles, by the Order of the Alphabet, the Substance of Such Referments as Stood at the End of Each Title in the First Collection of Statutes, Set Forth by M. Iustice Rastell. And in This Table the Title of Iustices of the Peace is Specially Perused and Amended.. In the Other Table. Are Set Downe By Order of the Kings Raignes, the Seuerall Times of Their Parliaments, Together With the Sundry Chapters and Intitulings of the Particular Statutes in Euerie of the Same:... London: Printed for the Society of Stationers, 1615. [xl], 486, [15] fols. Lacking rear endleaf. Folio (8-1/2" x 13"). Modern full morocco, raised bands, with gilt spine lettering. Armorial bookplate (John Ludford) to front pastedown, attractive woodcut initials and head and tail-pieces. Very minor worming to six leaves with very slight loss, light foxing to margins of title page, text otherwise bright and clean. Ex-library with institutional bookplate to front free endpaper and endleaf, small ownership stamp to title page and a few leaves. A desirable copy. $2,500.
* Rastell first published his great collection of statutes from Magna Carta to the present in 1557. It was updated periodically, the final edition appearing in 1625. “It is partly of the nature of an edition of the Statutes at large, as the enacting parts of the public statutes in force are printed nearly word for word, and in their original language. But it is more of the nature of an abridgment.... The book was frequently republished and brought up to date in successive editions and in 1579 the Latin and French Statute were translated.” Holdsworth, A History of English Law IV: 311-312. Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations I:554 (19). Cowley, A Bibliography of Abridgements, Digests, Dictionaries and Indexes of English Law to the Year 1800 116. Pollard and Redgrave, A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland 9325. Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 10.

30. Ruffhead, Owen [1723-1769](Editor). The Statutes at Large from Magna Charta to the End of the Last Parliament...[1785]. London: Mark Basket, Henry Woodfall and William Strahan, 1763-1800. Quarto. Fifteen volumes. [with] [Runnington, C.[harles] [1751-1821]]. The Statutes at Large from the Thirtieth Year of the Reign of King George the Third, To the Thirty-fourth year of the Reign of King George the Third, Inclusive...Being a Twelfth Volume to Mr. Runnington’s edition and a Sixteenth to Mr. Ruffhead’s. [through] the Eighteenth to Mr. Ruffhead’s; Completing those Editions to the Union of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Charles Eyre and Andrew Strahan, 1794-1800. Together 18 volumes in all. All volumes are full contemporary calf, with raised bands, leather spine labels. Physically and typographically well-executed, quite solid despite exteriors rubbed, worn and chipped mostly at spine head and tail, hinges cracked but holding well for most volumes. Internally quite crisp. Armorial book plates of Sir Martin Browne Folkes with his crest on the foot of the spines. Good. $2,500.
* Set of eighteen volumes which comprise the Statutes at Large from the period of the Magna Charta to 1803. Runnington’s editions began with the fourteenth volume, but considered them to be a continuation of Ruffhead’s, as indeed they appear to be in all aspects. While it is announced in the Preface as the first of a series of The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XVIII is likewise stated as a reference volume to the earlier volumes. Marvin 622. S&M I:555.

First American Edition of Classic Conveyancing Treatise

31. Sheppard, William [fl. 1660]. The Touchstone of Common Assurances: or, A Plain and Familiar Treatise, Opening the Learning of the Common Assurances, or, Conveyances of the Kingdom. To Which is Added, the Laws of the Several States of the Union, Relative to Common Assurances. [with] Anthon, John [1784-1863]. An Appendix to the Touchstone of Common Assurances, Containing The Laws of the Several States in the Union Regulating the Levying of Fines and Suffering Common Recoveries, The Making and Recovering of Deeds, the Force and Effect of Warranties, Feoffments, Attornments, Leases, Last Wills and Testaments, the Duties of Executors and Administrators, The Distribution of Intestates’ Estates, Uses, &c. &c. New York: Printed and Published by Isaac Riley, 1808, 1810. Three volumes in two (books labeled “Vol I.” and “Vol II.”). Volumes I and II have separate title pages. xxiii, 532; [3], 693 pp. Octavo (5-1/2" x 9"). Original law calf, tan and black lettering pieces, moderate edgewear, scuffing to boards, chip to spine at foot of Volume II, front joint just starting. Owner name to heads of spines and front board and pastedown of Volume I. Sporadic foxing to both. A solid set nevertheless. $200.
* First American edition from Hilliard’s last London edition (1791). With side-note and glosses. Star-paged to the 1791 edition. First published in 1648, the Touchstone is the earliest work devoted to the theory of conveyancing. Each chapter opens with a definition of a type of conveyance followed by an outline of the rules, principles and legal maxims that govern it. Sheppard’s comments are supported by textual authorities and case examples, and he includes variations, specific conditions and limitations. It was esteemed highly by several generations of American jurists. Kent stated that for “the soundness of its propositions, its succinct method and its excellent arrangement, this book is not surpassed by any book on the law” (cited in Sweet & Maxwell). Marvin, writing in 1847, adds: “The Touchstone is one of the most esteemed of the old treatises, a copious fountain of the law, relating to the transfer of real property, and is still vital and authoritative.” Anthon, a graduate of Columbia College, was an attorney in New York City who wrote several treatises. He also edited an edition of Blackstone’s Commentaries. Marvin, Legal Bibliography (1847) 643. S & M I:487. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 9527. Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard Law School (1909) II:581. Shaw, American Bibliography 16183, 19370.

Stephen on Pleading

32. Stephen, Henry John [1787-1864]. A Treatise on the Principles of Pleading in Civil Actions: Comprising a Summary View of the Whole Proceedings in a Suit at Law. Corrected in Conformity with the Rules of H.T. 1834, and Otherwise Improved. Fifth American Edition with Notes; and Additions From the First London Edition by Francis J. Troubat. Philadelphia: R.H. Small, 1845. xxiv, 453, clxxx pp. Octavo (5-1/2" x 9"). Contemporary law calf, maroon lettering piece. A few scuffs to boards, some wear to joints and edges, tips bumped, chipping to head of spine. Early signature to title page, interior otherwise clean. A nice copy. $200.
* With forms and a table of cases. Paging irregular, following the London edition, to which it is starred. This highly regarded treatise was published originally in 1824. Its success can be traced to its organization, clarity and style. According to Dicey, Stephen “exhibited the whole theory in scientific form, arranged the principles in logical order, and expressed them in a series of rules of unequalled clearness and brevity” (Dictionary of National Biography cited in Cohen). Marvin called it “a masterpiece of exhausting and elegant legal writing” that was notable for its “accurate statement and clear elucidation” of principles. Marvin 664. Cohen, BEAL 9253. HLC II:653.

A Southern Colonial Justice’s Perspective

33. Stokes, Anthony [1736-1799]. A View of the Constitution of the British Colonies, in North-America and the West-Indies, at the Time the Civil War Broke Out on the Continent of America. London: Printed for the author and sold by B. White, 1783. xvi, 555, (1) pp. Octavo (5-1/2" x 8-1/2"). Polished calf, rebacked in period style with lettering piece and raised bands with gilt fillets. Some wear to boards and tips, text tight and clean. Ex-library. Institutional bookplate to front pastedown, stamps to endleaves and title page. A desirable copy of an uncommon work published at the close of the American Revolution. $1,750.
* Stokes, chief justice of the General Court of the Georgia colony from 1769-1776, and in restored Royal Georgia from 1779-1782, “gives a very interesting discussion of the state of legal administration in the southern colonies...Stokes also discusses what part of the English Common Law the colonists had brought along with them” (Reinsch). Contents include chapters on the Colonial civil and criminal courts, counsel and attorneys in the colonies, the court of Vice-Admiralty, Negroes in the colonies and the modes of conveyance and manumission. Reinsch, “Colonial Common Law” in Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, By Various Authors...of the Association of American Law Schools 409-410. Howes, U.S.iana, 1650-1950 (2nd ed.) S-1024. Adams, The American Controversy 83-87. Sabin 91994.

1876 Feminist Legal Tract

34. Stow, Mrs. J.W. [d. 1902]. Probate Confiscation, and the Unjust Laws Which Govern Women. [San Francisco: Published for the Author by Bacon and Company, Printers, 1876]. [iv], 258 pp. Engraved portrait frontispiece of author with tissue-paper overlay. Octavo (5" x 7"). Original red cloth with decorative blind and gilt stamping, dark brown endpapers, moderate edgewear. Ornate head and tail-pieces throughout, interior bright and clean. An attractive copy. $150.
* First edition. A widow calls for economic justice and property rights for women and children. “Why do I write this book? Why do I not do a purely womanly deed and suffer in silence? Why do I refuse to turn the other cheek when one is smitten to a red-hot flame with injustice and inhuman oppression? Why? My answer is, ‘If I did not speak, the very stones would cry out against such a state of things as is still tolerated in this confiscation prize-tribunal, misnamed a court of justice; tolerated in the white-hot light of the nineteenth century; tolerated with the spread-eagle glorification about the justness of the laws.’ I cry out because I am hurt, wronged, outraged, insulted” (Preface, 1).

Contemporary Account of John Brown’s Trial

35. [Trial]. [Brown, John (1800-1859)]. The Life, Trial and Execution of Captain John Brown, Known as “Old Brown of Ossawatomie,” With a Full Account of the Attempted Insurrection at Harper’s Ferry. Compiled From Official and Authentic Sources. Including Cooke’s Confession, and All the Incidents of the Execution. New York: Robert M. DeWitt, Publisher, [c1859]. [5]-108 pp. Eight woodcut plates. Octavo (6" x 9"). Original sewn pictorial wrappers. Moderate wear to extremities, light soiling to wrappers, upper corner of front cover lacking with minor loss. Occasional foxing, text otherwise clean. A good copy. $250.
*New Edition-With Additions. Pages 96-100 contain “Notices of Negro Insurrections.” On the night of October 16, 1859, a group of 21 men led by the fervent abolitionist John Brown captured the U.S. Armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. They planned to use it as the base for an armed insurrection to free the slaves. A force of U.S. Marines led by Robert E. Lee quelled the rebellion and captured Brown. He was tried in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County for treason, murder and conspiracy, found guilty on all charges and hanged on December 2, 1859. Brown’s raid was one of the most dramatic chapters in the abolition movement and a pivotal event that helped to provoke the Civil War. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 14064. Sabin, A Dictionary of Books Relating to America 8519. Howes, U.S.Iana B-851.

Bioren Laws

36. [United States Laws]. [Colvin, J[ohn] B. (d. 1827) and Benjamin B. French (1899-1877), Compilers] [Bioren, John, Printer]. Laws of the United States of America, From the 4th of March, 1789, to the 4th of March, 1815, Including The Constitution of the United States, the Old Act of Confederation, Treaties, and Many Other Valuable Ordinances and Documents; with Copious Notes and References. Philadelphia: John Bioren and W. John Duane, 1815; 1816. Five volumes. Octavo (5" x 9"). Modern period-style quarter calf over cloth, maroon lettering pieces, endpapers renewed. Half-inch strip clipped from heads of title pages with no loss to text, light foxing throughout. A handsome set. $1,500.
* First edition, except Volume II, which is a second edition. Volume I contains the text of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the proposed thirteenth amendment of 1810. Volume V is a general index that includes the titles of all public and private acts. Each volume contains glosses and a thorough index. This edition, which is known as the "Bioren Laws," was compiled by Colvin according to a plan prepared by Richard Rush, then Attorney General of the United States, in conformity with the Act of April 18, 1814 (3. Stat. 129). It contains land claims, notes on the origins of various governmental departments and treaties with foreign powers and Indians. It omits local judiciary acts and statutes relating to the District of Columbia. (A second five-volume series covering acts passed between March 4, 1815 and March 4, 1845 was compiled by Colvin and others and published under various imprints.)
   Surrency observes that this compilation perpetuated an error regarding the thirteenth amendment. "At the time John B. Colvin was editing the laws, a proposed thirteenth amendment lacked ratification by one state, yet was included in the Constitution. The editor acknowledged in the preface that he knew the amendment had been ratified by only twelve states, and evidently he thought that one additional state needed for ratification would be found. In 1818, Congress discovered that the amendment had not received the prerequisite number of ratifications, but even as late as 1843, it was widely assumed that the amendment was part of the Constitution. without a doubt, the publication of the amendment in the compilation contributed to the misconception." Surrency, A History of American Law Publishing 104-105, 316. Sabin, A Dictionary of Books Relating to America 39425. HLC II:803.

First Edition of Wheaton’s Reports

37. Wheaton, Henry [1785-1848]. Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States. Volume 1: Philadelphia: Published by Mathew Carey, 1816; Volumes 2-12: New York: Published by Robert Donaldson, 1817-1827. 12 volumes in all. Octavo (5" x 9"). Later library buckram, red and black lettering pieces, crack to front joint and split between pages 318 and 319 of Volume 4 expertly repaired. Early owner signatures to title pages, foxing, interiors otherwise clean. An appealing set. $1,750.
* First edition. Scarce. With side-notes and indexes. Wheaton's tenure as the Supreme Court's reporter lasted from 1816 to 1827, a remarkable period that witnessed such landmark cases as Martin v. Hunter's Lessee (1816), McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819), Cohens v. Virginia (1821) and Gibbons v. Ogden (1824). Cohen and O'Connor observe that his Reports enjoyed "a somewhat special status [because] '[i]n no other period of our history have more important and far-reaching decisions been rendered by the United States Supreme Court than during that recorded by Wheaton.' During what has been coined the 'Golden Age of the Supreme Court,' the right of the Supreme Court to take jurisdiction in constitutional cases was upheld, the doctrine of implied powers was developed, and a limitation was placed on the powers of the states. Furthermore, there were many maritime and international law issues arising out of the War of 1812. In preparing his Reports Wheaton went beyond the basic responsibilities of a law reporter of his time. (...) [He] supplemented his Reports with extensive notes on such important matters as prize law, the Rule of the War of 1756, the civil war between Spain and her American Colonies, the slave trade, patent law and charitable bequests. Wheaton's lengthy appendices also included such documents as presidential instructions to armed vessels, a list of standing interrogatories, letters relating to the subject of blockades, extracts to a presidential message to Congress and a speech by John Marshall." Cohen and O'Connor, A Guide to the Early Reports of the Supreme Court of the United States 50-52, 135-146 (Quotations from Hicks, Men and Books Famous in the Law 202). HLC II:790.

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