Book #72656
Item #72656 The Justice of the Peace, And Parish Officer. London, 1755. 1st ed. Richard Burn.
The Justice of the Peace, And Parish Officer. London, 1755. 1st ed.
The Justice of the Peace, And Parish Officer. London, 1755. 1st ed.

The Justice of the Peace, And Parish Officer. London, 1755. 1st ed.

Notably Handsome First Edition of the Most Popular Work Ever Written on Justices of the Peace Burn, Richard [1709-1785]. The Justice of the Peace, And Parish Officer. [London]: Printed by Henry Lintot, 1755. Two volumes. xxvii, [1], 541, [3]; [iii], 573, [11] pp. Three-page publisher advertisement at end of Volume I, another one-page advertisement facing title page of Volume II. Octavo (8-1/4" x 5"). Contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt frames and large gilt fillets to boards, gilt spines with raised bands and lettering pieces, gilt tooling to board edges, all edges of text blocks gilt, gilt inside dentelles, marbled endpapers. A few minor nicks and scuffs to boards, light rubbing to extremities, corners bumped, front board of Volume I just beginning to separate but secure, rear joint of Volume I and rear joints of Volume II starting, armorial bookplate of Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale to front pastedowns. Moderate toning to text, light foxing to a few leaves, early hand-lettered location mark to versos of front free endpapers. A notably handsome set. $1,500. * First edition. A durable work, Burn's Justice went through 30 editions by 1869 and was excerpted often in early American justice manuals, such as Parker's Conductor Generalis (1764) and Burn's Abridgment of Burn's Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer (1773). It covers such topics as Accessory, Alehouses, Aliens, Assault and Battery, Bail (By Writ of Habeas Corpus), Bankrupt, Bastards, Burglary, Clergy, Dogs, Evidence, Excise and Customs, Forgery, Game, Homicide, Jurors, Libel, Oaths, Insolvent Debtors, Polygamy, Promissory Notes, Rape, Riot, Robbery, Taxes and Vagrants. Holdsworth notes that "a perusal of these headings tells us something of the development of the system of local government" during the time of the book's publication. Lowther [1857-1944] was an English soldier, sportsman and founder of the Dumb Friends League, now the Blue Cross, an important English animal welfare society. Holdsworth, A History of English Law X:162. English Short-Title Catalogue T68627.

Price: $1,500.00

Book number 72656

See all items in Antiquarian & Scholarly
See all items by