Cursory Strictures on the Charge Delived by Lord Chief Justice Eyre..
Godwin Denounces the Dangerous Precedent Set by a Recent Sedition Trial [Godwin, William (1756-1836)]. Cursory Strictures on The Charge Delivered by Lord Chief Justice Eyre to the Grand Jury, October 2, 1794. First published in the Morning Chronicle October 21. London: Printed for and Sold by D.I. Eaton, 1794. 31, [1] pp. Includes one-page publisher list. Stab-stitched pamphlet bound into recent period-style quarter calf over marbled boards by Philip Dusel. Light toning to interior, faint dampspotting to a few leaves. $950. * Only edition, one of three issues from 1794. This pamphlet is a commentary on the recent sedition trial of Maurice Margarot, one of the founding members of the London Corresponding Society, a radical group organized to demand parliamentary reform in the late eighteenth century. Victims of a wave of anti-French hysteria initiated by the French Revolution, he and four other radicals (later known as the "Scottish Martyrs to Liberty") were convicted and transported to Australia in May 1794. Godwin, the notable English social critic and anarchist, denounced these trials and forcefully argued that the prosecution's concept of "constructive treason" allowed a judge to construe any behaviour as treasonous. His pamphet initiated a response from Francis Buller, a puisne judge of King's Bench and Eyre's subordinate, which Godwin answered in another pamphlet. English Short-Title Catalogue N26623.
Price: $950.00
Book number 72412