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Caswell,
Jean, and Ivan Sipkov.
The Coutumes of France in the Library of Congress. An Annotated
Bibliography. With the editorial assistance of Natalie Gawdiak.
Washington: Library of Congress, 1977. xi, 80 pp. Seven color
plates. Reprint available July 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
ISBN 1-58477-627-7. Cloth. $75.
* Collections of local customary laws,
or coutumes, played an important role in the development of
modern French law and influenced legal development in the French
colonies, including Louisiana. This handsome bibliography of one of
the finest collections in the world, which contains seven color
plates, is the standard guide. Beginning with general collections,
it surveys coutumiers from the central, western, northern and
eastern regions. The final section compiles coutumes of
Written Law Regions (Pays de Droit Ecrit), such as Bordeaux
and Toulouse. The volume is rounded off with a useful collection of
appendixes: a glossary of geographic terms, a list of French rulers
and a list of Holy Roman Emperors. It also has an index of names, an
index of authors and compilers and an index of printers, publishers
and vendors.  
Chester,
Alden, in Collaboration with E. Melvin Williams.
Courts and Lawyers of New York: A History, 1609-1925. New
York: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925. 3 volumes.
Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-424-X.
Cloth. $295.
* This massive history contains a great
deal of information that is not available elsewhere. Contents: Part
I-Dutch Period: The Bases of American Law, The Dutch Legal System,
The Patrons and Their Courts, Burgher Government, Dutch Magistrates.
Part II-English Period: The Conflicting Land Titles, The Duke of
York's Laws, The Leisler Case. Part III-American Period:
Constitutional History, The Courts of Last Resort, The Supreme
Court, The Court of Chancery. Part IV: Judicial Distracts and
Associations of the Bar, Law Libraries and Law Schools.
Chipman,
Daniel. An
Essay on the Law of Contracts, for the Payment of Specifick
Articles. Middlebury [Vt.]: Published by the Author, 1822.
xvi, [17]-224 pp. Reprint available May 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange,
Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-636-6. Cloth. $65.
* Reprint of the first edition.
Chipman's Essay was the first original treatise on the
subject written in the United States. (Verplanck's An Essay on
the Doctrine of Contracts (1825) was the second.) In his
Legal Bibliography (1847) Marvin criticized Chipman for
"show[ing] what the law of contracts ought to be rather than what
the law of contracts is" (189). This remark indicates Marvin's
failure to grasp the changing nature of contract law, and it shows
that Chipman's ideas were ahead of their time. Indeed, as Horwitz
points out, Chipman was the first American to submerge the "dominant
equity theory of contract in a conception of contractual obligation
based exclusively on express bargains" determined by market values.
Chipman [1765-1850] was a Vermont lawyer, a professor of law at
Middlebury, a representative to the state legislature and the U.S.
Congress and a delegate to several Vermont constitutional
conventions.
Cohen,
Edward E. Ancient
Athenian Maritime Courts. Princeton: Princeton University
Press, [1973]. xii, 233 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange,
Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-661-7. Cloth. $85.
* Athens was the dominant maritime power
in the West from the eighth to fourth centuries BCE. Athenian
preeminence insured that its maritime law was accepted throughout
the Mediterranean world. Indeed, its influence outlasted Athens and
is the only area of classical Greek law that wasn't replaced
entirely by Roman models. Codified during the Roman period in the
Rhodian Sea laws, it went on to influence the subsequent development
of European commercial and maritime law. Cohen explores the
development of Athenian maritime law, the jurisdiction and procedure
of the courts and the Athenian principles that have endured to the
present day.
Cohen,
Herman. A History
of the English Bar and Attornatus to 1450. London: Sweet &
Maxwell, Limited, 1929. x, 622 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook
Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-482-7. Cloth. $125.
* A thorough study of the literature
dealing with the English legal profession from the Anglo-Saxon era
to Fortescue's De Laudibus. Turning to the continent, Cohen
supplements the English literature with references to the
organization of the legal profession in France, Normandy, Germany
and Spain. Holdsworth recommended this book when it was first
published, noting that he "collected and arranged valuable materials
which will be useful to all historians of English law": Law
Quarterly Review 45:398 cited in Marke, A Catalogue of the
Law Collection of New York University (1953) 220.
Uncommon English Dictionary with
Many Legal Terms
Coles,
Elisha [1640?-1680].
An English Dictionary: Explaining the Difficult Terms That
are Used in Divinity, Husbandry, Physick, Phylosophy, Law, Navigation,
Mathematicks, and Other Arts and Sciences. Containing Many Thousands
of Hard Words (and Proper Names of Places) More Than are in Any
Other English Dictionary or Expositor. Together with the Etymological
Derivation of Them from Their Proper Fountains, Whether Hebrew,
Greek, Latin, French, or Any Other Language. In a Method More
Comprehensive, Than Any That is Extant. London: Printed for
Samuel Crouch, 1676. Unpaginated. Main text printed in triple
columns. Reprinted 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13:
978-1-58477-595-9. ISBN-10: 1-58477-595-5. Cloth. $85.
* Reprint of the first edition.
Containing around 25,000 definitions, many of them dealing with
legal topics, this was the largest dictionary of its day. An
innovative work, it was the first to recognize the importance of
slang. In addition, Coles offers lists of dialect and obsolete
terms. He also includes the names of market towns and European
cities and discusses the proper names and histories of classical
figures.
Commons,
John R. Legal
Foundations of Capitalism. Madison: The University of Wisconsin
Press, 1968. x, 394 pp. Reprinted 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange,
Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-597-1. Cloth. $85.
* One of his most important American
studies of labor economics published in the twentieth century, this
book outlines an evolutionary and behavioral theory of value based
on data drawn from court decisions. Analyzing the meaning of
reasonable value as defined by the courts, he finds that the answer
is based on a notion of reasonable conduct. Expanding this point to
encompass the habits and customs of social life, he shows that court
decisions are based on customs that are powerful shaping forces on
the economic system. In an early review Wesley Mitchell declared
that Commons [1862-1945] carried this "analysis further along his
chosen line than any of his predecessors. Into our knowledge of
capitalism he has incorporated a great body of new materials which
no one else has used adequately.": American Economic Review,
XIV (1924) 253.
Comstock,
Alzada. State
Taxation of Personal Incomes. New York: Columbia University
Press, 1921. 247, [12] pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange,
Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-533-1. ISBN-10: 1-58477-533-5. Cloth.
$85.
* Comstock presents a history of income
taxation from the colonial period to the modern era, an assessment
of the efficacy of the various systems and a model tax system. More
than a survey, it shows how federal and state governments used the
elastic nature of income taxes to meet a variety of economic and
social needs, which led to an "aggregation of examples of possible
income tax methods rather than the development of an American income
tax policy.... [N]o two state income taxes are alike, even in their
essentials" (11). Originally published in the series Studies in
History, Economics and Public Law edited by the Political
Science Faculty of Columbia University.
Coxe,
Brinton. An
Essay On Judicial Power and Unconstitutional Legislation, Being
a Commentary on Parts of the Constitution of the United States.
Philadelphia: Kay and Brother, 1893. xvi, 415 pp. Reprinted
2005 by The Lawbook Exchange Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-534-8.
ISBN-10: 1-58477-534-3. Cloth. $95.
* Coxe's main argument is that the
"Constitution contains express texts providing for judicial
competency to decide questioned legislation to be constitutional or
unconstitutional and to hold it valid or void accordingly" (4).
There are four subordinate arguments: First, that the framers of the
constitution specifically granted the courts the power to hold a law
unconstitutional by dint of the Supremacy Clause and by Article III,
Section 2 defining judicial power. Second, that documents written
before the constitution were influential in framing the text and
establishing the idea of judicial review. The third looks at the era
before and during the confederation with an eye toward the court's
power to rule on constitutionality. The fourth argument finds
analogies and precedents in foreign law, including Roman and Canon
law.
Crandall,
Samuel B. Treaties,
Their Making and Enforcement. Washington, D.C.: John Bryne
& Co., 1916. xxxii, 663 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook
Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-492-4. Cloth. $140.
* Reprint of the second edition.
Crandall analyzes agency and the right of ratification, the
essentials of validity, the reality of consent and the operation of
treaties from the date they take effect to their interpretation and
termination. It explores treaty-making in the United States in great
depth, including treaties made before and during the Articles of
Confederation era, and discusses treaty-making in Germany, Great
Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland and other
countries. This important treatise was first published in 1904. The
second edition is preferable because it is a substantially expanded
work.
Cunningham,
Timothy. The
History of Our Customs, Aids, Subsidies, National Debts, and Taxes
from William the Conqueror to the Present Year MDCCLXXIII.
Corrected, With Several Improvements Suggested by Sir Charles
Whitworth, Chairman of the Committee of Supply and Ways and Means.
London: Printed for W. Griffin, 1773. [1], 396 pp. Reprinted 2006
by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-649-9. ISBN-10:
1-58477-649-8. Cloth. $95.
* Reprint of the second corrected
edition. Originally published in 1761, this is one of the first
studies of the history of taxation and, apparently, the first
history of English taxation. As the title suggests, this book
provides a history of taxation from the Domesday Book to 1778. The
various taxing acts are summarized and, after the reign of William
III, are divided into the categories of customs, excise and inland
duties. It is more than a bare chronicle, however. Going beyond
lists of titles and summaries of the various taxing acts, it offers
extensive commentary on their design and effect.
Curtis,
George Ticknor.
A Treatise on the Law of Copyright in Books, Dramatic and Musical
Compositions, Letters and Other Manuscripts, Engravings and Sculpture,
as Enacted and Administered in England and America with some Notices
of the History of Literary Property. Boston: Charles C. Little
and James Brown, 1847. xi, 450 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook
Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-565-2. ISBN-10: 1-58477-565-3.
Cloth. $125.
* Reprint of the first edition of the
first comprehensive study of copyright law. A comprehensive and
scholarly treatise that considers the history and theory of the
subject, it summarizes all of the English and American statute
enacted since the Act of Queen Anne of 1709-10, the first formal
recognition of a law of literary property separate from the law of
censorship. Curtis [1812-1894], an eminent patent attorney, was
renowned for his intellect and literary skill. He is also the author
of the important Constitutional History of the United States,
which is available as a Lawbook Exchange reprint.
Curtis,
George Ticknor.
A Treatise on the Law of Patents for Useful Inventions, as
Enacted and Administered in the United States of America. Fourth
Edition. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1873. xxxvii, 749 pp.
Reprinted 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-580-7.
Cloth. $150.
* Reprint of the fourth and final
edition of one of the earliest American treatises on the subject.
The Anglo-American tradition of granting patents has often been
marked by confusion over their scope and intent. Reflecting, for
example, on the fundamental question of whether patents create
monopolies, juridical commentators and the bench had come down
firmly both in favor and against the idea. Curtis argued that it did
not according to the common law. Instead, a patent was a "grant by
the government to the author of a new and useful invention, of the
exclusive right, for a term of years, of practising that invention"
(xxi). Better known for his Federalist interpretation of the
Constitution, Curtis [1812-1894] was prominent New York patent
attorney and the author of works on admiralty and equity
jurisprudence.
Damhouder,
Josse (Joost) de.
Praxis Rerum Criminalium: Praetoribus, Propraetoribus, Consulibus,
Proconsulibus, Magistratibus, Reliquisque id Genus Iustitiariis
[Justitiariis] ac Officiaiis, Apprime Utilis & Necessaria.
Antwerp: Ioan Belleri, 1601. xii, 637 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The
Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-560-2. Cloth. $150.
* Reprint of the definitive revised
edition. First published in 1554, this was the first comprehensive
study of criminal procedure published in northern Europe. A
synthetic work drawn mostly from Roman-Dutch sources, it was based
on Philip Wielant's Practycke Crimineele (1439-1519) and
other earlier treatises. Published in Latin, Dutch and French, it
was standard authority throughout the continent for many years. This
Dutch edition from 1601 is illustrated throughout with woodcuts
depicting adultery, murder, theft and many other crimes. Damhouder
[1507-1581] was an advisor to the Duke of Burgandy and a prolific
author of legal and religious treatises. This edition published in
conjunction with Damhouder's Sententiae Selectae Pertinentes ad
Materiam Praxios Rerum Criminalium (1601), which is available as
a Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. reprint.
Damhouder,
Josse De. Sententiae
Selectae Pertinentes ad Materiam Praxis Rerum Criminalium
et Aliarum Partium Iuris Scientiarumque; Ex Variis Authoribus
in Classes Ordine Alphabetico Dictionum Digestae. Antwerp:
Ioan Belleri, 1601. pp. [xii], 192 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook
Exchange Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-535-1. Cloth. $90.
* Published posthumously, this book is a
useful appendix to the definitive 1601 edition of his Praxis
Rerum Criminalium, which is available as a Lawbook Exchange,
Ltd. reprint. Positioned between a dictionary and a compendium of
authorities, it contains an alphabetical list of topics and
corresponding definitions drawn from Roman, canon, and biblical law
sources and commentators, along with citations. Damhouder
[1507-1581] studied law at Louvain and was Paymaster General to
Charles V and then Philip II for the Spanish occupation troops in
the Low Countries.
Davis,
George B. A
Treatise on the Military Law of the United States: Together with
the Practice and Procedure of Courts-Martial and Other Military
Tribunals. Third Edition, Revised. New York: John Wiley &
Sons, 1915. xv, 813 pp. Reprint available July 2006 by The Lawbook
Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-650-1. Cloth. $125.
* Reprint of the final edition. Although
title leads one to expect a basic procedural manual, this book goes
well beyond its stated purpose to offer a great deal of historical
and jurisprudential information. Davis [1847-1914] examines the
authority and sources of military law and its relation to civilian
law. He also pays close attention to its debt to English military
law and custom, some of it dating back to the middle ages. Davis was
Judge-Advocate General of the U.S. Army and Professor of Law at West
Point.
Davis,
Joseph Stancliffe.
Essays in the Earlier History of American Corporations.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1917. 2 Vols. Reprinted 2006
by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-427-3. ISBN-10:
1-58477-427-4. Cloth. $195.
* This collection of four
broadly-conceived essays discuss the corporation and its relation to
legal, legislative, social and economic issues. "Corporations in the
American Colonies" outlines the types of corporations that were
established in the British colonies. "William Duer, Entrepreneur,
1747-99" deals with the career of an important businessman who had
much to do with several corporate enterprises, and whose activities
reveal significant aspects of the contemporary business environment.
"The S.U.M.": the First New Jersey Business Corporation" is a
detailed study of a single manufacturing corporation during its
formative years. The final essay, "Eighteenth Century Business
Corporations in the United States," summarizes the primary feature
of the more than 300 business corporations chartered during the
eighteenth century. Recommended by Goebel for the study of colonial
corporations. See Cases and Materials on the Development of Legal
Institutions 418.
[Destutt
de Tracy, Antoine Louis Claude, Comte. [Jefferson, Thomas]. A
Commentary and Review of Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, Prepared
For Press From the Original Manuscript in the Hands of the Publisher.
To Which Are Annexed, Observations on the Thirty-First Book, by
the Late M. Condorcet: And Two Letters of Helveticus, on the Merits
of the Same Work.
Philadelphia: Duane, 1811. viii, 292 pp. Reprinted 2006 by The
Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-654-3. ISBN-10: 1-58477-654-4.
Cloth. $75.
* Reprint of the first edition. This
incisive critique was written around 1807 by Tracy [1754-1836], a
French philosopher and path-breaking psychologist who was a friend
of Jefferson [1743-1826]. He saw the Commentary when it was
still a manuscript and was so impressed that he took pains to have
it printed. He even helped with the translation and corrected the
page proofs. Although the translation was published anonymously, we
can identify the author and translators through a letter by
Jefferson dated January 26, 1811. Elsewhere in this letter he
commends it for correcting the Spirit of the Laws. While
other studies had merely "nibbled only at its errors...This want is
now supplied, and with a depth of thought, recision of idea, of
language and of logic, which will force conviction into every mind.
I declare to you, Sir, in the spirit of truth and sincerity, that I
consider it the most precious gift the present age has received.":
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson V:566-571.
Devecmon,
William C. In
Re Shakespeare's "Legal Acquirements": Notes by an Unbeliever
Therein. New York: The Shakespeare Press, 1899. iii, 51 pp.
Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-439-6.
ISBN-10: 1-58477-439-8. Cloth. $60.
* The large number of sophisticated
legal references in Shakespeare's work and his association with the
Inns of Court led many to conclude that he was once a barrister,
clerk or law student. This idea took root in the late eighteenth
century and reached fruition in such works as Shakespeare A
Lawyer (1858) by William L. Rushton and Shakespeare's Legal
Acquirements Considered (1859) by John Campbell (which is
available as a Lawbook Exchange reprint). Devecmon refutes this
view, arguing that the Bard's knowledge was that of a well-read
layman.
[Dickens,
Charles]. Bardell
v. Pickwick: The Trial for Breach of Promise of Marriage Held
at the Guildhall Sittings, on April 1, 1828, Before Mr. Justice
Stareleigh and a Special Jury of the City of London. Edited
with Notes and Commentaries by Percy Fitzgerald. London: Elliot
Stock, 1902. [vii], 116 pp. Illustrated. Reprinted 2005 by The
Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-420-7. Cloth. $75.
* One of the most famous legal cases in
English literature, Bardell v. Pickwick is an episode from
The Pickwick Papers (1836-1837) by Charles Dickens [1812-1870]
in which the hero becomes the defendant in a breach of promise of
marriage suit. Mr. Justice Gaselee and Serjeants Snubbin and Buzfuz
are among the characters introduced here. One of the most popular
episodes in the novel, it was often dramatized or read aloud as a
parlor entertainment. It also inspired several legal analyses, most
notably Frank Lockwood's The Law and Lawyers of Pickwick,
which is available as a Lawbook Exchange reprint.
Dickinson,
G. Lowes. The
Development of Parliament During the Nineteenth Century. London:
Longmans, Green, and Co., 1895. viii, 183, 24 pp. Reprinted 2005
by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-494-0. Cloth. $80.
* Considered "a brilliant essay on
parliamentary reform" by Lunt, this study examines Parliament's
gradual democratization of Parliament through the passage of the
Reform Bills of 1832, 1867 and 1884, which expanded male suffrage,
and other related acts. This historical account is then used to
frame "one of the most important questions to which that process has
given rise--the question of the competence of a democratic House of
Commons to direct to a satisfactory issue the socialistic tendencies
of the future.": Preface, [iii]. A remarkable study, it forecast the
Labor Party's prominence during the twentieth century. Lunt,
History of England 912 cited Marke, A Catalogue of the Law
Collection at New York University (1953) 209.
Digby,
Kenelm Edward, Assisted by William Montagu Harrison.
An Introduction to the History of the Law of Real Property
with Original Authorities. Fifth Edition. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1897. xiv, 448 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange,
Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-495-9. Cloth. $95.
* Reprint of the final (and best
edition), which incorporates the research of Pollock and Maitland's
History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I. This
valuable history is in two parts. The first is an account of
Anglo-Saxon land law, the development of feudal tenure and the
history of feudalism in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
Special attention is given to the legislation of Edward I. The
second part examines the history of uses, wills and conveyances.
This fascinating account is further enriched with lengthy excerpts
from Bracton, Glanville, the Year Books and the statutes (with
translations).
Disraeli, Benjamin. Vindication of the English Constitution in a Letter to a Noble and Learned Lord. London: Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street: 1835. ix, [3]-210 pp. Reprint available March 2007 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-730-4. ISBN-10: 1-58477-730-3. Cloth. $85.
* Reprint of the rare first edition.
Doderidge,
John. The English
Lawyer: Describing a Method for the Managing of the Lawes of this
Land. And Expressing the Best Qualities Requisite in the Student,
Practizer, Judges and Fathers of the Same. London: Assignes
of I. More, 1631. 277pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange
Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-536-X. Cloth. $95.
* Reprint of the first edition. "Of
books written about law to instruct students," says Holdsworth, "the
most notable, written by a common lawyer, is Doderidge's 'English
Lawyer.'" Doderidge [1555-1628] urges the student to acquire a
solid liberal-arts education that emphasizes subjects with practical
application, such as logic and etymology. Regarding the specifics of
legal education, he discusses the best methods of study and
information on the sources and principles of English law. Along with
Coke and Bacon, Doderidge was one of the most distinguished legal
figures of his age. A member of the King's Bench, a Serjeant for
Prince Henry, solicitor-general and a member of Parliament, he was
the author of five important works that were all published
posthumously. Holdsworth, A History of English Law V:397-398.
Douglas,
Charles H.J. The
Financial History of Massachusetts: From the Organization of the
Massachusetts Bay Company to the American Revolution. New
York: The University Faculty of Political Science of Columbia
College, 1891. Studies in History, Economics and Public Law, Volume
1, Number 4. 148 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-572-0. ISBN-10: 1-58477-572-6. Cloth. $65.
* Douglas divides the history of
Massachusetts into two periods, each with distinct financial
characteristics: "the period of her dependency on the British crown,
and period of her membership in the American Union" (12). Each of
these periods is divided once again, resulting in a four-part model
of her financial history. Originally published in the series Studies
in History, Economics and Public Law edited by the Political Science
Faculty of Columbia University, this title is a valuable for its
insights into the socio-economic foundations of Massachusetts
society.
Drage,
Geoffrey, Translator. The
Criminal Code of the German Empire.
London: Chapman and Hall, 1885. xv, 365 pp. Reprint available
January 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-593-9.
Cloth. $90.
* The German Criminal Code (Reichsstrafgesetzbuch)
was ratified by the newly-formed German Empire on 16 April 1871. It
is a remarkable work of synthesis drawn mostly the Constitutio
Criminalis Carolina (1532), the Code Napoleon (1804),
Feuerbach's Bavarian Criminal Code (1813) and the Prussian Penal
Code (1851), which was influenced by the Code Napoleon. Its value
lay not just in its establishment of uniform federal law but, as
Drage notes in his excellent commentary, in its catholicity of
historical and contemporary sources. Drawing on the idea of German
unity, underscored in this case by the consensus-forming might of
Prussian arms, the criminal code remained in force, despite various
efforts at reform, until the triumph of National Socialism.
Egerton,
M.A., and W.L. Grant, Editors. Canadian
Constitutional Development: Shown by Selected Speeches and Despatches,
with Introductions and Explanatory Notes.
Toronto: The Musson Book Company Limited, [1907]. xxii, 472 pp.
Reprinted 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. 2005. ISBN 1-58477-613-7.
Cloth. $95.
* This thoroughly annotated collection
of source documents from 1760 to 1867 traces the evolution of
Canada's constitution from the time of the British conquest to the
confederation. The sections, which are arranged according to
historical turning points, are "Instructions to Governor James
Murray," "The Quebec Act," "The Constitutional Act of 1791,"
"Proposals for Union," "Lord Durham's Report," "Responsible
Government in the Maritime Provinces," "Responsible Government,"
"The Annexation Movement," "The Tariff Controversy," and
"Federation."
Emerigon,
Balthazard Marie. [Meredith, Samuel, Translator and Editor].
A Treatise on Insurances. Translated from the French with
an Introduction and Notes. London: Henry Butterworth, 1850. lxxviii,
728 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-537-8.
Cloth. $150.
* Originally published in 1783,
Emerigon's learned treatise was praised by James Kent, who said it
"very far" surpassed "all preceding works in the extent, value, and
practical application of his principles. It is the most didactic,
learned, and finished product extant on the subject. (...) In the
language of Lord Tenterdon, no subject in Emerigon is discussed
without being exhausted, and the eulogy is as just as it is
splendid." Meredith's able translation is complemented by a brief
biography of the author and a chronology of the book's compilation.
Emerigon [1716-1785] was the leading French authority on commercial
law during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. His work
was held in the highest regard by English and American jurists.
Kent, Commentaries on American Law 359 cited in Marvin,
Legal Bibliography (1847) 293.
Endlich,
G[ustav] A[dolf].
A Commentary on the Interpretation of Statutes. Founded on
the Treatise of Sir Peter Benson Maxwell. Jersey City: Frederick
D. Linn & Company, 1888. lxviii, 871 pp. Reprint available
March 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-598-0.
ISBN-10: 1-58477-598-X. Cloth. $150.
* Reprint of the first American edition.
While working as the American editor of Maxwell's On the
Interpretation of Statutes (1875) Endlich uncovered numerous
discrepancies between English and American practice. Transforming
the work to focus more carefully on American law, Endlich was
instrumental in exposing the varieties of judicial interpretation.
Notable for an exhaustive discussion of the permutations courts must
adopt to reconcile the practical realities of cases with the static
letter of the law, the work remains invaluable as a catholicon for
those who insist on the imposition of a single standard.
Epstein,
Louis M. The
Jewish Marriage Contract: A Study in the Status of the Woman in
Jewish Law. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1927. xvii,
316 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. 1-58477-464-9.
Cloth. $85.
* A cogent and compelling examination of
the history and significance of the Jewish marriage contract, the
Ketubah, with extensive notes in Hebrew and English. As Epstein
notes in the preface, the Ketubah offers an excellent introduction
to the character of Jewish marriage because it is not a sentimental,
rhetorical or subjective text. Instead, it is "a legal document
embodying the essential points agreed upon by the parties and
sanctioned by the law as to the manner of their living together as
husband and wife" [2]. This work will interest those concerned with
property rights, family, divorce, and the evolution of betrothal and
marriage.
Exton,
John. The Maritime
Dicaeologie; Or, Sea-Jurisdiction of England. In Three Books.
The First Setting Forth the Antiquity of the Admiralty in England.
The Second Proving the Ports, Havens, and Creeks of the Sea to
be Within the Jurisdiction of the Admiralty. The third shewing
that All Contracts Concerning Maritime Affairs are Within the
Jurisdiction of the Admiralty, and There Cognoscible.
London: Printed for C. Davis, 1746. xvi, 404 pp. Reprinted 2005
by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-480-0. Cloth. $110.
* First published in 1664, this book,
though ostensibly descriptive, was written chiefly to maintain the
jurisdiction of the Admiralty court in the new government. Beyond
its political interest, it offers a detailed analysis of
seventeenth-century maritime law and admiralty jurisdiction by at
the time when Great Britain was emerging as a major maritime and
colonial power. Exton [1600?-1668] was educated at Cambridge,
earning the LL.D. in Civil Law in 1634. He was appointed President
of the High Court of Admiralty by Parliament in 1649, and was
reappointed by the Duke of York after the Restoration.
Ferriere,
Claude Joseph de.
Dictionnaire de Droit et de Pratique, Contenant L'Explication
des Termes de Droit, d'Ordonnances, de Coutumes, & de Pratique.
Avec les Jurisdictions de France. Nouvelle Edition, Revue, Corrigee
& Augmentee Par
***.
Toulouse: Chez Me. Rayet, 1787. Two
volumes. Text printed in double columns. Reprint available July 2006
by the Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. With a new introduction by Jennie
Meade. ISBN 1-58477-655-2. Cloth. $295.
* Reprint
of the final edition, "with additions exclusive to this edition, as
well as those added to the 1771 Paris edition." First published in
1734, this was the most important French law dictionary of the
eighteenth century. It is an encyclopedic dictionary. Most of its
definitions are remarkably long and detailed, many are divided into
complex sub-categories. Several entries include the etymology of
legal terms and trace the history of laws and customs. This
dictionary reflects the optimistic spirit of progressive reform that
reached fruition in the French Revolution. In his definition 'Juge,'
for example, he criticizes the vast power given to ecclesiastical
judges and courts in the past and expresses thanks that they do not
enjoy these powers any longer (Volume II 71). Ferriere
[c.1680-c.1748] was a well known French jurisconsult, dean of the
Faculty of Law in Paris and a prolific author.
*** is believed to be A.G. Boucher
d'Argis [1708-1791], a Parisian jurist and legal writer.
Ferriere,
Claude Joseph de. [Beaver, John, Translator]. [Duck, Sir Arthur].
The History of the Roman or Civil Law. Shewing Its Origin and
Progress; How, and When the Several parts of It Were First Compil'd;
With Some Account of the Principal Writers and Commentators Thereupon;
And the Method to be Observ'd in Studying the Same. Written Originally
in French. To Which is Added, Dr. Duck's Treatise on the Use and
Authority of the Civil Law in England.
[With]
The
History of the Origine of the French Laws, Translated from the
French by J.B. Esq., With a Preface and Notes Shewing, the Analogy
of the Laws of the Antient Gauls and Britons.
London: Printed for D. Browne,
1724. [xii], iv, [2], 169, xxxviii, [8], vii, 105, 7 pp. Reprinted
2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. With new Introduction by
Michael Hoeflich. ISBN 1-58477-663-3. Cloth. $85.
* Through the influence of Doctors'
Commons and the universities the civilians played an important role
in the development of English law, especially in the fields of
commercial, estate and admiralty law. Despite its value, study of
the civil law had entered a moribund phase by the eighteenth
century. Several student handbooks attempted to correct this
deficiency, and Beaver's translation of Ferriere's treatise is among
the best. Accompanied by Duck's learned essay that connects the
civil law to the common law, the work is among the first in English
to establish the confluence of these legal traditions. Also included
is Beaver's translation of The History of the Origine of the
French Laws, Translated from the French by J.B. Esq., Shewing, the
Analogy of the Laws of the Antient Gauls and Britons. First
published anonymously in 1703, it has been attributed to Ferriere,
Gabriel Argou and Claude Fleury. Ferriere was a well known French
jurisconsult, dean of the Faculty of Law in Paris and the author of
legal treatises and an important legal dictionary.
Fowler,
Samuel P., Editor.
Salem Witchcraft; Comprising More Wonders of the Invisible
World. Collected by Robert Calef; And Wonders of the Invisible
World, By Cotton Mather; Together With Notes and Explanations.
Salem: H.P. Ives and A.A. Smith, 1861. xxi, [22]-446, [3], [447]-450
pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-462-2.
Cloth. $110.
* This volume collects two important
early accounts of the infamous Salem witchcraft trials based on
primary sources. Published in 1693, Wonders of the Invisible
World by Cotton Mather [1663-1728] is an account of selected
trials written at the request of the judges, who wished to address
claims of impropriety. Though he believed in witchcraft, Mather was
critical of the judges' conduct when the trials were underway. After
reading the transcripts, however, he concluded that the verdicts
rested on ample evidence according to the standards of English and
American law. Published in 1700, More Wonders of the Invisible
World, Or The Wonders of the Invisible World Displayed by Robert
Calef [1648-1719] attacked Mather's account. Skeptical about the
existence of witchcraft, he argued for the injustice of the trials
and suggested, moreover, that Mather influenced the judges and
public opinion. A well-documented and devastating account, it was
the first important publication to show that the trials were a
miscarriage of justice.
Fraenkel,
Ernst. The
Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship.
Translated From the German by E.A. Shils, in Collaboration with
Edith Lowenstein and Klaus Knorr. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1941. xvi, 248 pp. Reprint available May 2006 by The Lawbook
Exchange, Ltd. 2005. ISBN 1-58477-671-4. Cloth. $95.
* This classic study is one of the
standard works on constitutional law, jurisprudence and judicial
administration in Nazi Germany. Also considered one of the finest
analyses of totalitarianism, it was written in Germany in the late
1930s and completed in the United States in 1940, where Fraenkel
[1898-1975] lived after fleeing the Nazis in 1938. The title derives
from Fraenkel's thesis that National Socialism divided the law into
two co-existing areas. The first of these, The Normative State,
protects the legal order as expressed in statutes, decisions of
courts and the activities of administrative agencies. Its
counterpart is the Prerogative State, which is governed by the
party. It exercised "unlimited arbitrariness and violence unchecked
by any legal guarantees" (xiii). "As a detailed record of what has
happened to the Reichstaat under totalitarian auspices, this
book is without rival.": Fritz Morstein Marx, Harvard Law Review
54 (1940-1941) 1267.
Freund,
Ernst. Standards
of American Legislation: An Estimate of Restrictive and Constructive
Factors. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1917. xx, 327
pp. Reprint available April 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-552-2. ISBN-10: 1-58477-552-1. Cloth. $95.
* Esteemed by Vanderbilt and recommended
by Pound for its treatment of judicial precedent, this book
originated as a series of lectures at Johns Hopkins in 1915, Ernst
Freund offered this work "to suggest the possibility of
supplementing the established doctrine of constitutional law which
enforces legislative norms through ex post facto review and
negation by a system of positive principles that should guide and
control the making of statutes, and give more definite meaning and
content to the concept of due process of law" (Preface, v). Freund
was Professor of Jurisprudence and Public Law in the University of
Chicago. Vanderbilt, Studying Law 409. Pound, An
Introduction to American Law 41 cited in Marke, A Catalogue
of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 205.
Frothingham, Louis Adams. A Brief History of the Constitution and Government of Massachusetts. Cambridge: Published by Harvard University, 1916. v, 140 pp. Reprint available February 2007 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-734-2. ISBN-10: 1-58477-734-2. Cloth. $70.
* The author was Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Lieutenant-Governor and a lecturer at Harvard.
Fulbeck,
William. Direction
or Preparative to the Study of the Law; Wherein is Shewed, What
Things Ought to be Observed and Used of Them That Are Addicted
to the Study of the Law, And What, on the Contrary Part, Ought
to be Eschewed and Avoided. Second Edition, Revised, by T.H.
Stirling. London: Printed for J. and W.T. Clark, 1829. [xii],
252 pp. Folding table. Reprinted 2004 by The Lawbook Exchange,
Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-371-5. Cloth. $85.
* Reprint of the 1829 London edition.
William Fulbeck [1560-1603] was a bencher at Gray's Inn. Published
in 1600, his Direction or Preparative was intended as a
vade mecum for aspiring law students. The first book of its
kind, it offers a mix of practical information and advice on
personal conduct. (For example, he advises students not to study at
night "for when the stomach is full and stuffed with meat, the
abundance of humours is carried to the head, where it sticketh for a
time and layeth as it were a lump of lead upon the brain.") For the
most part Fulbeck restricts his thoughts to rhetorical techniques,
methods for preparing a case, recommended readings and other topics.
Though often read for amusement, this treatise remains an
incomparable guide to English legal education and the legal culture
of the Inns of Court during the Elizabethan era.
Dickens Exposes Some Cruel
Features of the Legal System
Fyfe,
Thomas Alexander.
Charles Dickens and the Law. Edinburgh: William Hodge &
Co., 1910. 79 pp. Reprint available March 2006 by The Lawbook
Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-666-6. ISBN-10: 1-58477-666-8.
Cloth. $45.
* Based on an address to the Glasgow
Dickens Society, this essay praises the author's detailed knowledge
of the law and legal community. Indeed, "he made no such mistakes as
many authors--even though of high standing--sometimes make. He laid
down no bad law...." (78). More important, Fyfe advances the novel
argument that his writings "exposed some cruel features of the legal
system of his day" and influenced public opinion to demand their
reform.
Gardner,
Daniel. A Treatise
on International Law, and a Short Explanation of the Jurisdiction
and Duty of the Republic of the United States. Troy: From
the Press of N. Tuttle, 1844. xii, [13]-315 pp. Reprinted 2004
by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-455-X. Cloth. New.
$95.
* Gardner [1799-1863] was an attorney
who practiced in Troy, New York, and a local politician who held
several minor municipal offices in that city. The first part of this
remarkable work argues that international law needs to return to its
roots in natural law revealed in Scripture. Two major prejudices are
embedded in this argument: the United States has done this, and
Great Britain will not, choosing instead to dominate the oceans
through force. The brief second part addresses the "internal
jurisdiction of our national government over the states, the people
of the United States and the Indian tribes possessing a portion of
our territory" (269). It dispenses with the theological model of the
first section to offer an outline of Federal powers as defined by
constitutional law. His analysis of slavery is interesting. Though
he clearly despises it, Gardner concludes that it cannot be
abolished by Congress. He hopes, however, that the "chivalry of the
south" will eventually imitate "Alexander of Russia and nobly set
their vassals free" (286).
Girault,
Arthur. The
Colonial Tariff Policy of France.
Edited by Charles Gide. Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1916.
vii, 305, 6 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN
1-58477-556-4. Cloth. $95.
* Reprint of the first and only edition.
Girault asks "[w]hat customs regime should control relations between
a colony and the colonizing state, on the one hand, and foreign
countries on the other" (3)? He proposes two models: the first,
"jealous exclusion" of others from trade with the colony, will
likely result in dissension and warfare. The second, which Girault
attributes to "liberal imperial states," allows the foreigner to
trade on the same basis as the colonizer and, in the process,
prepares the colonized peoples for eventual freedom. France, Girault
maintains, tried both in its long imperial history, often at the
same time. Originally published in the International Peace, Economic
and History Series of the Carnegie Endowment for International
peace, this book is notable for its textured historical analysis and
its prescient identification of the seeds of colonial collapse.
Goebel,
Julius, Jr. Felony
and Misdemeanor: A Study in The History of English Criminal Procedure.
Volume I [all published]. New York: The Commonwealth Fund, 1937.
xxix, 455, [1] pp. Reprinted 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-603-1. ISBN-10: 1-58477-603-X. Cloth. $85.
* Immediately acclaimed as one of the
most important contributions to European legal history, Felony
and Misdemeanor has a broader scope than its title suggests. It
is a history of the legal institutions in the Frankish Empire,
Normandy and pre-conquest England and their contributions to the
formation of Anglo-American private law, public law and judicial
administration. It is also a social and political history of the
early Middle Ages. This work, complete in itself, was intended to
have a second volume which was never published. Reviewing this book
in 1938 for the Harvard Law Review, Max Radin said it was
"one of the most notable contributions to European legal history
that has been made anywhere in recent years" and "a first-rate
achievement" (51:1463, 1465).
Goodnow,
Frank Johnson.
Comparative Administrative Law: An Analysis of the Administrative
Systems, National and Local, of the United States, England, France
and Germany. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1897. 2 Vols.
Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-622-2.
ISBN-10: 1-58477-622-6. Cloth. $195.
* Reprint of the first edition. Volume
I: Organization. Volume II: Legal Relations. Referring to this book
in One Hundred Years of Administrative Law (1937), Arthur
Vanderbilt wrote that "Goodnow was the first to perceive the
peculiar significance for the study of administrative law of the
comparative method as applied to the administrative systems of
France, Germany, England and the United States, which, although
involving common problems, also present sharp contrasts at many
vital points" (I:120-121). A member of the Columbia faculty, Goodnow
[1859-1939] was the first individual in the United States to hold a
professorship in administrative law.
Goss,
John Dean.
The History of Tariff Administration in the United States: From
Colonial Times to the McKinley Administration Bill. New York:
[Columbia University], 1891. 89 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook
Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-574-2. ISBN-10: 1-58477-574-2.
Cloth. $65.
* Goss traces the tariff system through
three avatars that often existed simultaneously: protective,
preventive and punitive. From an ineffective colonial system that
allowed importers to avoid payment through extended credit
arrangements, to a somewhat less troubled system that demanded
immediate cash payments in the early 1840s, to a punitive system
designed to stymie smugglers during the Civil War, the collection of
tariff duties was always problematic. This problem was enhanced in
the wake of industrialization and protectionism when direct taxes
began to supplant indirect taxation as the major source of
government finance. Reviewing the history of American tariff
regulation, Goss discerns a gradual process towards "more stringent
supervision, regulation and control" (88). Originally published in
the series Studies in History, Economics and Public Law edited by
the Political Science Faculty of Columbia University.
Goudsmit, J.E.
The Pandects: A Treatise on the Roman Law and Upon its Connection
with Modern Legislation. Translated from the Dutch by R. De
Tracy Gould. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1873. xx, [1], 368
pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-561-4.
ISBN-10: 1-58477-561-0. Cloth. $150.
* Reprint of the first and only edition.
Goudsmit [1813-1882] was professor of jurisprudence at the
University of Leiden and a preeminent scholar of Roman law. As its
title suggests, this erudite study has two parallel components. The
largest is a thorough topic-by-topic analysis of the Digest
(or Pandects), the vast compilation of jurisprudential
writings from the Corpus Juris Civilis. This is complemented
with a running demonstration of each topic's relevance in
contemporary European law. This study is a valuable introduction to
the Digest and a compelling demonstration of its influence on
European law at a time when several nations were showing a renewed
interest in codification.
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