Littletons Tenures in English, Lately Perused and Amended.
Littleton's Tenures in English Littleton, Sir Thomas [1402-1481]. Littletons Tenures in English, Lately Perused and Amended. London: Printed for the Companie of Stationers, 1621. 142, [2] ff. Octavo (5-1/2" x 3-1/2"). Recent period-style calf, blind rules to boards, raised bands, blind ornaments and lettering piece to spine, edges rouged, endpapers renewed. Moderate toning, light browning to margins, early inkstains and annotations to margins of a few leaves, soiling, some edgewear and owner signature (of John Blome/ 2 August 1644) to title page. $850. * Later edition. Written during the reign of Edward IV [1442-1483] and first published around 1481, Littleton's Tenures is probably the most revered treatise in the history of the common law. Much admired for its learning and style, it is concerned with tenures and other issues relating to real property. This venerable work, which Coke called "the ornament of the Common Law, and the most perfect and absolute work that ever was written in any humane science," is considered a landmark because it renounced the principles of Roman law (and Latin) in favor of guidelines and doctrines drawn from the Year Books and, when necessary, hypothetical cases. The first dated English translation was published in 1538. OCLC locates 6 copies worldwide of the 1621 edition, and 3 in law libraries (Yale, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas). Holdsworth, A History of English Law II:573. English Short-Title Catalogue S895.
Price: $850.00
Book number 69107