Book #63712
Item #63712 The Argument of the Lord Keeper Sommers, On His Giving Judgment. John Somers Somers, Baron.

The Argument of the Lord Keeper Sommers, On His Giving Judgment...

A Low Point in Somers's Career Somers, John Somers, Baron [1651-1716]. The Argument of the Lord Keeper Sommers, On His Giving Judgment in the Bankers Case: Deliver'd in the Exchequer-Chamber, June 23, 1696. [London]: Printed by E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling, 1733. [ii], 128 pp. Quarto (8-1/2" x 7"). Contemporary calf, blind rules to boards, blind fillets to joints, gilt tooling to board edges, raised bands and lettering piece to spine. Some rubbing to extremities with wear to spine ends and corners, part of lettering piece lacking, partial crack in text block between front free endpaper and title page, minor worming to front endleaves, later armorial bookplate of the Earls of Macclesfield to front pastedown, small embossed Macclesfield stamp to head of title page. Moderate toning to text, somewhat heavier in a few places, occasional faint dampspotting, light browning and dampstaining (?) to title page. Early owner signature (Thomas Parker) to front free endpaper, interior otherwise clean. $500. * Only edition and the only complete account. This case was an unfortunate moment in Somers's otherwise brilliant career. (He was an important Whig jurist, Lord Chancellor during the reigns of William & and Mary and Queen Anne and framer of the English Bill of Rights). "In the most important case which came before him in the exchequer chamber, that of the bankers who had recovered judgment in the court of exchequer for arrears of interest due to them as assignees of certain perpetual annuities charged by Charles II upon the hereditary excise as security for advances, he expended some hundreds of pounds and an immense amount of thought and research, with no better result than to defeat an intrinsically just claim, on the technical ground that it was not cognisable in the court of exchequer, but only by petition of right. No judgment so elaborate had ever been delivered in Westminster Hall as that by which, in November 1696, he reversed the decision of the court of exchequer." (DNB). This decision was reversed by the House of Lords three years later. Despite Somers's importance, few accounts of his legal work exist today; it is known mostly through summaries. This copy belonged to Thomas Parker [1666-1732], 1st Earl of Macclesfield and Lord Chancellor from 1718 to 1725. Housed in Shirbirn Castle, the library of the Earls of Ma.

Price: $500.00

Book number 63712

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