The Elements of the Common Lawes of England, Branched into a Double...
First Edition of Bacon's Elements of the Common Laws of England Bacon, Sir Francis [1561-1626]. The Elements of the Common Lawes of England, Branched Into a Double Tract: The One Contayning a Collection of Some Principall Rules and Maximes of the Common Law, With Their Latitude and Extent. Explicated for the More Facile Introduction of Such as are Studiously Addicted to that Noble Profession. The Other the Use of the Common Law, For Preservation of Our Persons, Goods, And Good Names. According to the Lawes and Customes of this Land. London: Printed by [Robert Young for] the Assignes of I. More Esq., 1630. [xxiv], 104; [8], 84 pp. Two parts, each with separate title page and pagination, second part titled The Use of the Law. Quarto (7" x 5-1/2"). Contemporary limp vellum with yapp-style fore-edges, text block detached. Soiling and edgewear to binding, curling, chipping and tears to fore-edges, brief early annotations, mostly illegible, to inside of rear cover, early owner inscriptions (George Butler) to front free endpaper. Moderate toning to interior, light wear to edges of text block, fold lines to corners of several leaves, notable edgewear and a few tears to preliminaries and final leaves, small faint library stamps to title page and rear endleaf, part-erased library markings in pencil to title page of first part and following leaf. $950. * First edition. Bacon, one of the great intellectuals of his era, held the posts of Solicitor General, Attorney General and Lord Chancellor during the reign of James I. The Elements of the Common Laws of England is the general title for a work that is comprised of two different treatises: A Collection of Some Principall Rules and Maximes of the Common Lawes of England and The Use of the Law, Provided for the Preservation of Our Persons, Goods and Good Names. The first contains a set of twenty-five maxims, or regulae, one of the earliest, if not the first, collections of maxims on English law. These maxims are remarkable for their stylistic vigor, intellectual rigor, meticulousness and clarity. The Regulae was intended to be the first part of De Regulis Juris, a codification of English law that Bacon never completed. This is quite unfortunate, observes Holdsworth, because "he alone had the philosophical capacity, the historical knowle.
Price: $950.00
Book number 76009