A Treatise on the Law of Elections, In All Its Branches, 1st edition.
Simeon's Pioneer Treatise on Election Law, with Authorial Corrections Simeon, John [1756-1824]. A Treatise on the Law of Elections, In All Its Branches. London: Printed for T. Payne and Son, and T. Whieldon, 1789. ix, [7], 176, cxxx, [12] pp. Octavo (8-1/4" x 5"; 21 x 12.7 cm). Recent period-style quarter calf over cloth, gilt-edged raised bands, blind fillets and lettering piece to spine, endpapers renewed. Moderate toning to text, occasional faint dampstaining, light soiling to a few leaves. "John Williams Atty. Carmarthen" to head of title page, annotations and markings by Simeon, one of them signed, to a few leaves. $1,000. * This is the rare first edition of the pioneering English treatise on election law, distinguished by an extensive index containing extracts from foundational election cases. The rapid development of parliamentary reporting in the late eighteenth century created a wealth of raw case data. As legal historian Sir William Holdsworth notes: "We have seen that Douglas, the reporter in the court of King's Bench, had also made reports of election cases, which he published in 1775-1777, and that other reports of election cases began to appear about the same time. The publication of these reports gave an opportunity for a more logical treatment of the subject, which was provided by Simeon's [book]..." This specific copy boasts a remarkable dual legal provenance. The internal markings and annotations in John Simeon's hand serve as a direct window into his editorial process. These notes highlight the laws that were modified or repealed immediately following publication, effectively laying the groundwork for the book's second edition in 1795. The title page bears the signature of John Williams [1757-1810], a prominent Carmarthen, Wales barrister and legal scholar. Williams was a major contributor to the landmark tenth and eleventh editions of Blackstone's Commentaries (1787, 1788) and prepared the highly regarded third edition of Saunders's Reports of Cases and Pleadings in the Court of King's Bench (1799). Holdsworth, History of English Law XII:346. English Short-Title Catalogue N14027.
Price: $1,000.00
Book number 71507