Lectures on the Practice of the Law of Scotland; In Two Volumes.
The First Systematic Work on Scottish Conveyancing Ross, Walter [1738-1789]. Lectures on the Practice of the Law of Scotland; In Two Volumes. Edinburgh: Printed for Bell & Bradfute, and Elpingston Balfour, 1792. xiii, [2], 499, [1]; [iv], 508 pp. Two volume set. Quarto (10-1/2" x 8"). Contemporary calf, blind rules to boards, rebacked in period style with raised bands, lettering pieces and volume numbers to spines, blind tooling to board edges. Light rubbing with scuffs, nicks, scratches to boards, moderate rubbing and wear to board edges and corners, which are bumped, light offsetting to endleaves, faint ownership stamp (of J.Y. Simpson) to front free endpapers with his signature to p. 100 of Volumes 1 and 2. Light toning to interior, occasional light foxing, light soiling in a few places, notes in pencil in a later hand to pp. 45 and 46 of Volume 2. $1,000. * First edition, published posthumously. Originally presented as a series of lectures on conveyancing and legal diligence to the Society of Writers to the Signet, Ross's work represents "the first attempt to state this branch of the law of Scotland in a coherent and comprehensible way" (ODNB). A work of great authority, it was referenced frequently in the court of session and reissued in 1822. OCLC locates 15 copies, 6 in law libraries (Berkeley, Yale, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, University of Missouri, Southern Methodist University). K.J. Campbell, "Ross, Walter" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, accessed online. English Short-Title Catalogue T118757.
Price: $1,000.00
Book number 72835