Laws Concerning the Election of Members of Parliament, London, 1774.
One of the First Works to Draw on Blackstone's Commentaries A Gentleman of the Inner Temple, Editor. [Bohun, William, Attributed]. Laws Concerning the Election of Members of Parliament; With The Determinations of the House of Commons Thereon and All Their Incidents; Continued Down to the Present Time. The Whole Digested Under Proper Titles; Also an Appendix of Precedents, With a Table of the Principal Matters. A New Edition, With Additions. London: Printed for W. Owen, 1774. xx, 94, [2], 95-392, [12], 6 pp. Includes 6-page publisher catalogue. Octavo (8-1/4" x 5"). Contemporary calf, blind rules to boards, blind fillets along joints, raised bands and lettering piece to spine, joints and head of spine mended. Some rubbing to extremities, corners bumped and somewhat worn, hinges cracked. Light toning to text, somewhat heavier in places, brief early owner annotation to front free endpaper. A handsome copy. $450. * Second edition. With an index of parliamentary acts. The anonymous editor notes in the advertisement that he has drawn extensively on Comyns' Digest of the Laws of England, Lyttleton's Life of King Henry II, Whitelocke's Notes Upon the King's Writ for Choosing Members of Parliament (in Morton's edition) and Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, then a recent work. One of the very first books to draw on the Commentaries, Laws Concerning the Election is a landmark in the history of its reception by the English bar. It is also a remarkably thorough work that considers causes determined by parliamentary committee and the House of Commons and the laws of England, Scotland and Wales from 1382 to 1780. Some references attribute this work to William Bohun. The first edition was published in 1768, its last edition in 1780. It was based on earlier anonymous work, Determinations in the House of Commons Concerning Elections (1st ed. 1741). English Short-Title Catalogue N10410.
Price: $450.00
Book number 66933