 |
With a New Introduction by
Benjamin Ferencz
Stone,
Julius. Aggression
and World Order: A Critique of United Nations Theories of Aggression.
Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1958.
xiv, 226 pp. With a new introduction by Benjamin Ferencz, Chief
Prosecutor for the United States at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial,
author of Defining International Aggression-The Search for
World Peace (1975), Adjunct Professor of International Law,
Pace University and founder of the Pace Peace Center. Reprint
available June 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-601-3.
Cloth. $85.
* A title in the Lawbook Exchange series
Foundations of the Laws of War. Efforts to enforce world peace
during the twentieth century through international organizations
created a demand for a legal definition of aggression. A U.N.
committee attempted to provide one in a 1956 report. Stone rejected
it for two reasons. Citing a broad array of examples, he shows that
the concept of aggression eludes definition. More important, he
argues that a definition is not necessary for the goals of
international peace-enforcement. "Professor Stone puts forward his
arguments with his usual great learning and persuasiveness; the
result is a stimulating and sane study of a problem whose discussion
has so often been characterized by sterility and lack of
proportion.": John Collier, Cambridge Law Journal 1960 (1960)
247.  
Reprint of the Second Edition
Edited by His Son W.W. Story
Story,
Joseph. [Story, William Wetmore, Editor.].
Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1851. Two volumes. Reprinted
2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-515-7. Cloth.
$250.
* Reprint of the second edition, with
additions by his son W.W. Story [1819-1895]. First published in
1833, this work is generally considered to be the most important
work written on the American Constitution. Dedicated to John
Marshall, it presented a strongly Federalist interpretation. It is
divided into three books. Book I contains a history of the colonies
and discussion of their charters. Book II discusses the Continental
Congress and analyzes the flaws that crippled the Articles of
Confederation. Book III begins with a history of the Constitution
and its ratification. This is followed by a brilliant line-by-line
exposition of each of its articles and amendments. Comparing it to
The Federalist, James Kent said that Story's work was
"written in the same free and liberal spirit, with equal exactness
and soundness of doctrine, and with great beauty and eloquence of
composition.... Whoever seeks...a complete history and exposition of
this branch of our jurisprudence, will have recourse to [this] work,
which is written with great candor, and characterized by extended
research, and a careful examination of the vital principles upon
which our government reposes.": cited in Marvin, Legal
Bibliography (1847) 669-670.
Story,
Joseph [1779-1845].
Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence. W.E. Grisgsby. London:
Stevens and Haynes, 1884. lxxiii, 1093 pp. Reprint available May
2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-594-7. Cloth.
$195.
* Reprint of the first English edition.
"Probably the decisive factor in our reception of English equity was
Story's Equity Jurisprudence. With much art (...) he made it
seem that the precepts established by the decisions of the English
Courts of Chancery coincided in substance with those of the Roman
law as expounded by the civilians and hence were but statements of
universal principles of natural law universally accepted in
civilized states. If equity had been expounded to American judges
and lawyers and students in the dry and technical fashion of the
contemporary English treatises, we might have been sorely hampered
in the development of American Law by a crippled equity. Story's
sympathetic exposition of English equity (...) was the one thing
needed to commend equity to our American courts and to counteract
the forces that were working against it.": Pound, The Formative
Era in American Law 156-157.
Story,
Joseph. Commentaries
on the Law of Bills of Exchange, Foreign and Inland, as Administered
in England and America; with Occasional Illustrations from the
Commercial Law of the Nations of Continental Europe. Boston:
Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1843. xxiv, 608 pp. Reprinted
2004 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-454-1. Cloth.
$125.
* Reprint of the first edition. In
The Formative Era of American Law, Pound refers to the
Commentaries on the Laws of Bills of Exchange as one of the
standard texts of the nineteenth century. As Marvin pointed out in
1847, it was certainly the most complete and wide ranging text of
its day. In addition to American and English sources Story draws on
the work of Heineccius and other civil-law jurists. Marvin, Legal
Bibliography (1847) 673. Apart from James Kent, no man has had
greater influence on American law than Joseph Story [1779-1845]. He
was Dane Professor of Law at Harvard and an Associate Justice of the
U.S. Supreme Court. His many books have been cited extensively in
America and in Britain, and he remains an authority today.
With an Original Introduction by
Morris L. Cohen
[Story,
Joseph]. Horowitz, Valerie L., Editor.
Joseph Story and the Encyclopedia Americana.
With an Original Introduction by Morris L. Cohen. Clark, New Jersey:
The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., available March 2006. xv, 206 pp.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-528-7. ISBN-10: 1-58477-528-9. Cloth. $95.
* Never before gathered in any volume,
this work presents eighteen articles about major legal subjects by
Joseph Story [1779-1845] produced for the first edition of the
Encyclopedia Americana (1829-1833), which was edited by Francis
Lieber [1798-1872]. Little-known today because they were written
anonymously and never published in any other form, these extended
essays are fascinating distillations of Story's jurisprudence. Many
of them were written during his dual tenure as Supreme Court justice
and Dane Professor at Harvard Law School. We offer them in an
enlarged print version of their original form, now with an extensive
introduction by Morris L. Cohen, an appendix with texts of rare
related materials and now a detailed index. Ranging from "Codes,"
"Common Law" and "Congress of the United States," to "Law of
Nations," "Natural Law" and "Usury," they are fascinating
distillations of Story's jurisprudence. Story was appointed the
youngest Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
in 1811 and in 1829 became the first Dane professor of law at
Harvard Law School. An important educator, he wrote several
influential treatises, such as the landmark Commentaries on the
Constitution (1833).
Story,
William W[etmore]. A
Treatise on the Law of Contracts. Revised and Greatly Enlarged.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1856. Two volumes. Reprint
available April 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-618-8.
Cloth. $295.
* Reprint of the fourth edition, the
final edition edited by the author. The son of Joseph Story, William
Wetmore [1819-1895] wrote two textbooks that were standard works
during the nineteenth century. This was one of them. First published
in 1844, it went through five editions, the final appearing in 1874.
"This work bears internal evidence of a careful and thorough
examination of the cases, and the principles to be deduced from them
are stated with precision, and in a concise and vigorous style.":
Marvin, Legal Bibliography (1847) 674 (reviewing of the first
edition).
Taylor,
John. A Summary
of the Roman Law, Taken from Dr. Taylor's Elements of the Civil
Law to which is Prefixed A Dissertation on Obligation. London:
Printed for T. Payne, at the Mews Gate, 1772. lxx, 328, [31] pp.
Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-506-8.
Cloth. $95.
* A landmark in the history of English
reception of Roman law, Taylor's Elements was originally
written in 1754 a primer on the Roman law and the principles of law
in general for the grandsons of the Earl of Granville, to whom he
had been appointed tutor. Taylor [1704-1766], who was a fellow of
St. John's College, Cambridge, an advocate of Doctor's Commons and a
member of the Royal Society, addresses the history of Roman public
and private law and its concepts of law, right, justice, persons,
marriage, slavery, property, the patria potestas and equity.
He also considers natural and international law. Taylor draws on a
wide range of sources. In addition to Justinian, he uses earlier
compilations, other Greek and Latin classical authors and later
writers on the Roman, natural and international law. The anonymous
compiler of this edition extracted all of the sections dealing with
Roman law and added a brief treatise on obligation.
[T.
E.]. The Lawes
Resolutions of Womens Rights: Or, The Lawes Provision for Woemen.
A Methodicall Collection of Such Statutes and Customes, With the
Cases, Opinions, Arguments and Points of Learning in the Law,
As Doe Properly Concerne Women. Together with a Compendious Table,
Whereby the Chiefe Matters in This Booke Contained, May Be the
More Readily Found. London: Printed by the Assignes of John
More, 1632. [xiv], 404 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange,
Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-525-4. Cloth. $125.
* Reprint of the first edition. The
first work devoted exclusively to women's law, this incomparable
digest of laws in force at the time of the Civil War is also known
as The Womens Lawyer. An anonymous work, its preface is
signed T.E. Often attributed to Thomas Edgar [fl. 1615-1649], some
believe the author was actually Sir John Doderidge [1555-1628], an
important legal figure during the reign of James I. Lord Campbell
considers it "a learned work on the subject of marriage" (cited in
Sweet & Maxwell). It also treats such diverse topics as age of
consent, dower, hermaphrodites, polygamy, wooing, partition,
chattels, divorce, descent, seisin, treason, felonies and rape.
Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth
of Nations I:500 (24).
Todd,
Alpheus. Parliamentary
Government in the British Colonies. Edited by His Son. London:
Longmans, Green, and Co., 1894. xx, 929 pp. Reprint available
April 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-617-X. Cloth.
$150.
* Reprint of the Second edition. By 1894
Great Britain possessed the largest formal empire that ever existed,
one that ranged across a bewildering variety of lands and cultures.
A remarkable work of synthesis and analysis, Todd's treatise is an
excellent guide to its political and legal administration at the
time when the empire stood at its zenith. In the course of nineteen
lucid chapters it describes how Parliamentary government functions
in the Colonies, the ways imperial control manages the appointment
and control of governors, local legislation, internal
administration, military, naval, and ecclesiastical matters, foreign
relations, imperial legislation, judicial appeals, grant of honours
and the use of royal prerogatives, particularly mercy. Other
chapters examine administrative and legislative jurisdiction over
subordinate provinces of a central colonial government, the
constitutions and powers of colonial parliaments and the double
position and functions of colonial governors or
lieutenant-governors.
Tremenheere,
Hugh Seymour. The
Constitution of the United States Compared With Our Own. London:
John Murray, 1854. xvi, 389 pp. Reprint available September 2006
by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-158477-604-8. 10-ISBN:
1-58477-604-8. Cloth. $125.
* In this work, a useful compendium of
authorities as well as a comparative analysis of the differences
between the American and English constitutions, Tremenheere follows
the arrangement of Story's Commentaries and "state[s] in as
compendious a manner as is consistent with clearness, the substance
of that learned judge's remarks and opinions, upon each of the most
important articles of the Constitution." To this he adds "the
observations of the authors of the 'Federalist,' and also those of
Mr. Justice Kent, under the same heads, together with extracts from
any other writers whose facts and opinions may seem worthy of
consideration in connection with those of the above principal
authorities" (Introduction). Tremenheere [1804-1893] was a member of
the Inner Temple. The author of six exhaustive reports on child
labor, his work was the foundation for at least fourteen acts of
Parliament.
[Trial].[Adultery
and Divorce]. Trials
for Adultery: Or, the History of Divorces. Being Select Trials
at Doctors Commons, for Adultery, Fornication, Cruelty, Impotence,
&c. From the Year 1760, to the Present Time. Including the
whole of the Evidence on Each Cause. Together With the Letters,
&c. That Have Been Intercepted Between the Amorous Parties.
The Whole Forming a Complete History of the Private Life, Intrigues,
and Amours of Many Characters in the Most Elevated Sphere: Every
Scene and Transaction, However Ridiculous, Whimsical, or Extraordinary,
Being Fairly Represented, as Becomes a Faithful Historian, Who
is Fully Determined Not to Sacrifice Truth at the Shrine of Guilt
and Folly. Taken in Short Hand, by a Civilian. London: Printed
for S. Bladon, 1779-1780. Seven Volumes. Plates. Reprint available
May 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-468-1. Cloth.
$695.
* With numerous ribald engravings. This
is the most extensive compilation of scandalous divorce cases
produced in eighteenth-century England. Produced for amusement and
titillation, the accounts in these volumes are valuable nevertheless
for their combination of accurate reports and vivid background
histories. In all, this collection is a fascinating document of
English social and legal attitudes toward adultery and divorce at
the dawn of an era of unprecedented social change.
Tucker,
N[athaniel] Beverley.
A Series of Lectures on the Science of Government, Intended
to Prepare the Student for the Study of the Constitution of the
United States. Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1845. 464 pp.
Reprinted 2004 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. 1-58477-519-X. Cloth.
$150.
* This work contains twenty-two
lectures, largely on constitutional law, and uniformly favorable to
the idea of states' rights. Most were delivered at the College of
William and Mary. Beverley Tucker, 1784-1851, son of St. George
Tucker and half-brother of John Randolph, began an unsuccessful law
practice upon his graduation from William and Mary. His business
failing despite his family connections, Tucker relocated to Missouri
where he opposed the Missouri Compromise and gained a judicial seat.
Later returning to Virginia, he was appointed professor of law at
his alma mater and spent the next thirty years "pour(ing) forth
letters, books and speeches in defense of the rights of the South."
This work contains twenty-two lectures, largely on constitutional
law, and uniformly favorable to the idea of states' rights. Most
were delivered at the College of William and Mary.
Tucker,
Robert W. The
Law of War and Neutrality at Sea. Washington: United States
Government Printing Office, 1955. xiii, 448 pp. Reprinted 2006
by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-582-9. ISBN-10:
1-58477-582-3. Cloth. $95.
* Reprint of a title in the
International Law Studies series published by the Naval War College.
Published at a time when international law was processing the
challenges introduced during World War II and the Korean Conflict,
and when the United Nations, the World Court and other new
international bodies were exerting influence as belligerents or
judicial bodies, Tucker's analysis was a timely guide to a legal
field in the midst of unprecedented change.
Vattel,
Emmerich de; Joseph Chitty (editor).
The Law of Nations; or Principles of the Law of Nature, Applied
to the Conduct and Affairs of Nations and Sovereigns. From the
French of Monsieur De Vattel. With Additional Notes and References
by Edward D. Ingraham, Esq. Philadelphia: T.& J.W. Johnson,
1854. lxvi, 656 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
2004. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-501-0. ISBN-10: 1-58477-501-7. Cloth.
$125.
* Chitty [1776-1841], the distinguished
English legal scholar, produced this edition of Vattel's classic
study to bring it to the attention of a wider audience. "[I]t is of
infinitely more extended utility, he observed, because it
"contains a practical collection of ethics, principles, and rules of
conduct to be observed and pursued, as well by private
individuals as by states, and these of the utmost
practical importance to the well-being, happiness, and ultimate and
permanent advantage and benefit of all mankind." It should therefore
be studied "by every gentleman of liberal education, and by
youth, in whom the best moral principles should be
inculcated. The work should be familiar in the Universities,
and in every class above the inferior ranks of society. And, as
regards lawyers, it contains the clearest rules of construing
private contracts, and respecting Admiralty and Insurance
law.": Preface v.
Verplanck,
Gulian C. An
Essay on the Doctrine of Contracts: Being an Inquiry How Contracts
are Affected in Law and Morals, By Concealment, Error, Or Inadequate
Price. New York: Published by G. & C. Carvill, [1825].
vi, 234 pp. Reprint available August 2006 by the Lawbook Exchange,
Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-637-4. Cloth. $95.
* Reprint of the first edition. In his
discussion of early American works on contract law in The
Transformation of American Law Horwitz observes that "nowhere
were [its] underlying bases more brilliantly and systematically
rethought" than in Verplanck's Essay (281). Indeed, compared
to those of Dane and Story, "Verplanck's reconsideration of the
philosophical foundations of contract law was by far the most
penetrating among the American treatise writers" (283). It is a
landmark in the development of the will theory of contract and an
elaborate critique of the doctrine of caveat emptor, which
had recently been adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court in Laidlaw v.
Organ (1817). On a broader level, this key work is interesting
for its insights into the tandem development of contract law and the
market economy on the cusp of the economic boom of the 1820s.
Vinogradoff,
Paul. Common
Sense in Law. New York: Henry Holt and Company, [n.d.] 1914.
256 pp. [xiv]. Reprinted 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13:
978-1-58477-653-6. ISBN-10: 1-58477-653-6. Cloth. $95.
* This title by Sir Paul Vinogradoff
[1854-1925] is a sophisticated introduction to jurisprudence. It is
notable for its sociological interpretation, which was then a recent
idea in Anglo-American jurisprudence. "We know very few short books,
and not many books on a larger scale, so well fitted to give lay
people a just notion of the spirit of modern law, and, what is not
less important, to encourage practising lawyers in maintaining a
liberal and dignified view of their profession.": Frederick Pollock,
Law Quarterly Review 30 (1914) 236. This book was written for
the Home University Series. These layman's guides are notable
because several were written by distinguished authors.
Vinogradoff,
Sir Paul. English
Society in the Eleventh Century: Essays in English Mediaeval History.
Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1908. xii, 599 pp. Reprinted 2005
by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-476-2. Cloth. $95.
* One of the principal studies by the
eminent legal scholar, it is commended by Holdsworth in The
Historians of English Law as "a most valuable historical
analysis of the forces which were creating mediaeval society in
England" (86-87). Vinogradoff [1854-1925] considers the Old English,
Danish and Norman elements that shaped English society during one of
its most dynamic phases. Careful attention is paid to the influence
of political factors and public law on social life and how
innovations in husbandry and other economic factors influenced the
development of private law.
Vinogradoff,
Sir Paul [1854-1925].
The Growth of the Manor. New York: The MacMillian Company,
1911. ix, 384 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
ISBN 1-58477-475-4. Cloth. $95.
* Reprint of the second, revised
edition. One of the principal studies of the eminent legal scholar,
it is a key work for students of the Domesday book, early court
rolls, extents and plea rolls. Vinogradoff [1854-1925] sketches the
nature of land law in the generations before Domesday, then
considers the growth of the law during the feudal period. In a
review of the first edition in the Law Quarterly Review, W.
Pailey Baildon observed that scholars will read this book with
"pleasure and advantage.": Law Quarterly Review 21:300 cited
in Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York
University (1953) 148.
Vinogradoff,
Sir Paul. Villainage
in England: Essays in English Mediaeval History. Oxford: At
the Clarendon Press, 1892. xii, 464 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The
Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-477-0. Cloth. $95.
* This classic study was highly regarded
by Maitland and Holdsworth. An unsigned article in the
Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th. ed.) said it is "perhaps the
most important book written on the peasantry of the feudal age and
the village community in England; it can only be compared for value
with F.W. Maitland's Domesday Book and Beyond." (28:100).
Vinogradoff [1854-1925] argues that the Norman-era villain was the
direct descendent of the Anglo-Saxon freeman, so the typical
Anglo-Saxon settlement was a free community rather than a manor. An
impressive work of original scholarship and synthesis, it "shed a
wholly new light on the social and legal aspects of the institution
of villainage.": Holdsworth, The Historians of English Law
86.
Ward,
Robert. An Enquiry
Into the Foundation and History of the Law of Nations in Europe,
From the Time of the Greeks and Romans to the Age of Grotius.
Dublin: Printed by P. Wogan, P. Byrne, W. Jones and J. Rice, 1795.
Two volumes. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN
1-58477-393-6. Cloth. $230.
* Since the seventeenth century the law
of nations was dominated by the theory of natural law, which posited
the existence of legal principles shared by all ages, places and
peoples. This theory shaped the work of such major jurists as
Grotius, Pufendorf and Selden. It was enshrined during the
eighteenth century by advocates of the Enlightenment. Ward
[1765-1846] rejected this theory. A Romantic, he had no use for
universal systems. Instead, he appreciated the uniqueness of
cultures and the differences between the past and the present. One
of the first to apply Romantic ideas to the subject, he treated the
law of nations as a malleable concept that changed considerably
since antiquity.
Warren,
Edward H. Spartan
Education. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1942. xi, 164
pp. Reprint available November 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
2005. ISBN 1-58477-585-8. Cloth. $65.
* Reprint of the 1942 edition, which was
strictly limited to 1000 copies. Despite requests for additional
copies Warren [1873-1945] refused to reissue the book instead
publishing an abridged edition. Warren attended Harvard College from
1891 to 1895 and Harvard Law School from 1897 to 1900, where his
principal instructors were Ames, Gray, Smith and Thayer. After four
years at Strong and Cadwalader, he joined the Harvard Law faculty,
where he remained until his retirement. With a manner reminiscent of
Professor Kingsfield, he offers a fascinating account of Harvard Law
School from the turn of the century to the 1940s, colorful sketches
of his professors and Cadwalader and a summary of his "Spartan"
approach to pedagogy. Warren also includes the texts of various
addresses and articles dealing with Harvard, legal history, the
American Bar and political topics.
Washburne,
George Adrian.
Imperial Control of the Administration of Justice in the Thirteen
American Colonies, 1684-1776. New York: Columbia University
Press, 1923. 191 pp. Reprint available June 2006 by The Lawbook
Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-621-8. Cloth. $70.
* Reprint of a title in the Columbia
University series Studies in History, Economics and Public Law.
The British government was certain that their colonies in the new
world would be governed by English law. They were not certain,
however, about the actual mechanisms of colonial law. The
development of the legal system in the thirteen colonies, and they
way English institutions were adapted to colonial conditions, is the
subject of this monograph. Impressively documented, it is founded on
original research based on manuscript sources in the United States
and Great Britain.
Watson,
Samuel James. The
Constitutional History of Canada. Volume I (all published).
Toronto: Adam, Stevenson & Company, 1874. 157 pp. Reprinted
2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-608-0. Cloth.
$60.
* This compact history covers the period
spanning the English conquest in 1760 to the union of the provinces
in 1867. Though concerned primarily with governmental
administration, it pays close attention to the influence of
political and social developments. The legal aspect of these
developments are explored in several chapters, such as "Laws of
Inheritance--Detestation of Primogeniture," "Introduction of the
Laws of England," "Revival of the French Laws" and "The Gift of
Religious Liberty to Canada."
Wessels,
J[ohannes] W[ilhelmus].
History of the Roman-Dutch Law. Grahamstown, Cape Colony:
African Book Co., 1908. xv, 791 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook
Exchange, Ltd. With a New Introduction by Michael Hoeflich. ISBN
1-58477-657-9. Cloth. $150.
* Roman-Dutch law is a hybrid of
medieval Dutch law, mainly Germanic in origin, and Roman law as
defined by the Corpus Juris Civilis and its later reception.
It was developed in Holland during the sixteenth, seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. Bynkershoek, Damhouder, Grotius and other
important Roman-Dutch scholars had a profound influence on the
development of European civil law and were the primary conduit that
brought civil-law ideas to America. Dutch colonists exported it to
South Africa, where it became the primary component of its current
legal system. This engagingly written history by a judge of the
Traansvaal Supreme Court offers a thorough analysis of Roman-Dutch
jurisprudence and its intellectual background. He devotes a great
deal of attention to its literature, and he analyzes several
treatises at length. Valuable as a introduction to one of the most
important legal systems in history, it is equally useful as a
reference.
Whitehead,
John. The Judicial
and Civil History of New Jersey. [Boston]: The Boston History
Company, 1897. Two volumes. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook Exchange,
Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-426-6. Cloth. $295.
* With an index and numerous plates.
Published for members of the New Jersey Bar, this massive judicial
history has two parts. Part I covers all aspects of the state's
legal history from the sixteenth century to the present day. Part II
is a comprehensive biographical register of the most distinguished
legal figures in the state's history. This section is especially
valuable because it collects a great deal of biographical data that
is difficult to find elsewhere.
Whitmore,
William H, Editor.
A Bibliographical Sketch of the Laws of the Massachusetts Colony
from 1630 to 1686. In Which are Included the Body of Liberties
of 1641, and the Records of the Court of Assistants, 1641-1644.
Arranged to Accompany the Reprints of the Laws of 1660 and of
1672. Boston: Rockwell and Churchill, Printers, 1890. xliii,
150 pp. Facsimiles. Reprint available August 2006 by The Lawbook
Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-629-3. Cloth. $95.
* Whitmore [1836-1900] was an important
Massachusetts antiquarian. As Boston's Record Commissioner and,
later, City Registrar, he produced numerous modern editions of
public records. Two volumes edited under his direction were
Colonial Laws of Massachusetts Reprinted from the Edition of 1672,
With Supplements Through 1686 (1887) and a second volume
reprinted from the edition of 1660, with supplements to 1672 and the
Body of Liberties of 1641 (1889). Whitmore's Bibliographical
Sketch is a companion to these books. Its chapters are
"Additions Made in the Second Printed Edition of the Records of
Massachusetts, And Not Found in the First Editions," "Records of the
Court of Assistants of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in New
England. From October 28, 1641, Through March 5, 1643-4," "The Body
of Liberties. 1641. A Fac-simile From the Hutchinson Manuscript,
With a Line-For-Line Printed Version" and a detailed bibliographic
history of the colonial laws.
Williams,
Thomas Walter.
A Compendious and Comprehensive Law Dictionary; Elucidating
the Terms, and General Principles of Law and Equity. London:
Gale and Fenner, 1816. Unpaginated [1022] pp. Reprint available
May 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. With New Introduction by
Bryan Garner. ISBN 1-58477-680-3. Cloth. $125.
* Reprint of the only edition. One of
several English dictionaries published in the early nineteenth
century, Williams's dictionary is notable for its physical size and
broad scope. Williams noted that his aim was to include more words
and shorter definitions by omitting the extraneous detail that
distinguished the work of his predecessors (and, presumably, his
competitors). Williams [1763-1833] was a barrister of the Inner
Temple and was called to the bar, but he didn't have success as a
pleader. He was known instead for his writings. In addition to his
dictionary, he wrote manuals justices of the peace, compiled
abridgments and digests and edited an edition of William Sheppard's
The Precedent of Precedents.
Willis,
William. A History
of the Law, The Courts, and The Lawyers of Maine, From Its First
Colonization to the Early Part of the Present Century. Portland,
Bailey & Noyes, 1863. iv, [ii], [v]-viii, [2], [9]-712 pp.
Reprint available July 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. 2005.
ISBN 1-58477-628-5 Cloth. $95.
* Early histories by local lawyers, such
as this one, are often quite valuable because they were written by
people who were steeped in local traditions and had access to
practitioners of the preceding generation, who were invaluable
sources of fact and anecdote about their generation and the
generation that preceded them. Written during the early 1860s, this
book draws on interviews with people who practiced before Maine was
a state and could recall anecdotes from the colonial period. Along
with historical chapters and biographical sketches of such lawyers
as Simon Greenleaf and William B. Sewall, the book has information
about "social usages of the bar," popular law books and how lawyers
from other colonies were treated.
Contains Important Early
Commentaries on the U.S. Constitution
Wilson,
James. The Works
of the Honourable James Wilson, L.L.D. Published under
the Direction of Bird Wilson, Esquire. Philadelphia: Lorenzo
Press, 1804. Three volumes. Frontispiece. Reprinted 2005 by The
Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-405-3. Cloth. $250.
* Reprint of the rare first edition.
Wilson [1742-1798] was one of the most influential delegates to the
Federal Constitutional Convention and one of the six founding
fathers who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S.
Constitution. He was also the principal author of the Pennsylvania
Constitution, a professor of law and an Associate Justice of the
U.S. Supreme Court.
The Works are comprised
mostly of lectures delivered in 1790-1791 at the College of
Philadelphia. They cover several aspects of public and private law,
such as the common law, general principles of the law of nations and
the law of nature, the U.S. Constitution, crime, obligations and
property. The texts of several important speeches given at the
Federal Convention and his rousing oration celebrating
Pennsylvania's adoption of the Constitution on July 4, 1788 are also
included. Many of these pieces are important early commentaries on
the Constitution.
Wines,
E.C. Commentaries
on the Laws of the Ancient Hebrews with an Introductory Essay
on Civil Society and Government. New York: G.P. Putnam &
Co., 1853. xvi, 640 pp. Reprinted 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange,
Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-527-0. $95.
* Wines [1806-1879] begins with the
assumption that "next to the birth and mission of Jesus Christ, the
existence and institutions of the Hebrew people are the most
important event in universal history" (Preface, iii). His
exploration of the Hebraic experience finds a senate, commons, and
Chief Magistrate. He stresses the divine origin of these
institutions throughout and stresses their relation to the current
social and legal order. Though marred by faulty history and
anachronism the spirit of his argument was quite appealing to
contemporary readers; among those who expressed their admiration for
this work were Benjamin Butler, Levi Woodbury and William Kent.
Wines, an expert on penology the author of more than a dozen works
on legal and religious subjects, was a Congregational pastor,
professor of ancient languages at Washington College, Pennsylvania,
president of the City University of St. Louis.
Winslow,
Forbes. The
Plea of Insanity, In Criminal Cases. Boston: Charles C. Little
and James Brown, 1843. viii, 111 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook
Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-511-4. Cloth. $75.
* Reprint of the first American edition.
This treatise was one of the first attempts to outline criteria
through which to determine the legitimacy of an insanity plea. This
issue would be resolved later that year with the establishment of
the McNaghten Rules, which this work undoubtedly influenced, and
which are still applied in England today. Dr. Winslow [1810-1874]
was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and the father of Dr.
Winslow Lyttleton Forbes, who is best known for his work on the case
of Jack the Ripper.
Wood,
Thomas. An Institute
of the Laws of England; or, The Laws of England in Their Natural
Order, According to Common Use. London: Printed by W. Strahan
and M. Woodfall, 1772. Folio. [ii], x, 657, [40] pp. Reprint available
April 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. Cloth. $250.
* Reprint of the tenth and final
edition. Wood's Institute was the only treatise, until the
publication of Blackstone's Commentaries, to furnish a comprehensive
view of the common law. It was "the most important and the most
popular of his books. It was written, he tells us, to supply the
want of a methodical book on English law, which could be put into
the hands of students in the Inns of Court and the Universities."
Holdsworth, HEL XII:419. Blackstone recognized the books
considerable merits. "Upon the whole," he said, "his work is
undoubtedly a valuable performance; and great are the obligations of
the student to him, and his predecessor Finch, for their happy
progress in reducing the elements of law from their former chaos to
a regular methodical science."
Woolrych,
Humphrey W. A
Treatise of the Law of Waters; Including the Law Relating to Rights
in the Sea, and Rights Concerning Rivers, Canals, Dock Companies,
Fisheries, Mills, Watercourses, Etc., with a Note Concerning the
Rights of the Crown to the Land Between High and Low Water Mark.
Philadelphia: T. & J.W. Johnson, 1853. xxvii, 432 pp. Reprinted
2005 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-521-8.
ISBN-10: 1-58477-521-1. Cloth. $95.
* Reprint of the first American edition,
from the second London edition, 1851, to which it is starred. First
published in 1830, A Treatise of the Law of Waters is a
comprehensive work notable for its clear explanation of several
complex areas, such as the law of fisheries. It begins with a
summary of various water rights, then proceeds to consider
non-commercial rights in the seas and rivers, canals, docks,
waterworks, fisheries and water mills. The final chapter addresses
watercourses, which he defines as private rights of water. In all,
Woolrych offers a superb overview of Anglo-American water law as it
stood in the mid-nineteenth century. A prolific and learned scholar,
Woolrych [1795-1871] wrote several treatises and biographies
including Lives of Eminent Serjeants-at-Law, which is
available as a Lawbook Exchange reprint.
Wright,
Andrew. Court-Hand
Restored or, The Student's Assistant in Reading Old Deeds, Charters,
Records, Etc. Neatly Engraved..., Describing the Old Law Hands,
With Their Contractions and Abbreviations. With an Appendix Containing
the Ancient Names of Places in Great Britain and Ireland; An Alphabetical
Table of Ancient Surnames; and a Glossography of Latin Words Found
in the Works of the Most Eminent Lawyers, and Other Ancient Writings,
But Not in Any Modern Dictionaries. London: Reeves and Turner,
1879. xviii, 99 pp. Thirty plates. Reprinted 2006 by The Lawbook
Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-549-2. ISBN-10: 1-58477-549-1.
Cloth. $125.
* Reprint of the ninth edition, the
final edition with full-size plates. Law-French and Latin were
falling out of use by the time they were finally abolished in
England by statute in 1733. These languages and their conventions
had become esoteric by the time Wright's volume appeared. Written by
a member of the last generation to master them in the course of his
legal education, it was intended to be a kind of Rosetta stone for
the contemporary barrister and scholar. Long a standard work, this
reference went through ten editions by 1912. The ninth edition is
preferred because it has better plates (derived from copper
engravings rather than photostats). It remains an indispensable
guide when consulting early charters, deeds or records.
Yen, Hawkling L.
A Survey of Constitutional Development in China. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1911. 136 pp. Reprinted 2005 by The Lawbook
Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-479-2. ISBN-10: 1-58477-479-7.
Cloth. $65.
* Published at the beginning of China's
modern era, which followed the creation of the Chinese Republic in
1911 and the abdication of the last emperor in 1912, Yen reviews
significant turning points in the long history of the nation's
constitutional history. This is complemented by a parallel history
of public law. A student of Charles A. Beard, Yen shares his
mentor's sensitivity to the decisive influence of socio-political
factors. The final chapter, "Movement For a Written Constitution
(1905-1910)" is especially interesting as a sophisticated
contemporary account by Chinese legal historian. Originally
published as Volume XL, Number 1 in Columbia's series Studies in
History, Economics and Public Law.
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