Law, Or a Discourse Thereof, In Four Books, Written in French by Sir..
Exceptional Provenance: From the Library of Sir Frederick Pollock Finch, Sir Henry [1558-1625]. Law, Or a Discourse Thereof, In Four Books. Written in French by Sir Hen. Finch Kt. His Majesties Serjeant at Law. And Done Into English by the Same Author. London: Printed by the assignes of Richard and Edward Atkins Esq, 1678. [vii], 496, 499-506, [16] pp. Complete. First leaf blank. With an index and two-page publisher advertisement. Octavo (6-1/4" x 3-3/4"; 15.9 x 9.5 cm). Contemporary calf, blind rules to boards, raised bands and blind fillets to spine, gilt rules to board edges. Worn, boards detached along with front free endpaper and leaves A1-3, some small scuffs, nicks and scratches to boards, moderate rubbing to extremities, wear to spine ends and corners, which are bumped, early annotation (and ownership signature?) to rear free endpaper, its upper right corner lacking. Light toning to interior, light soiling in a few places, light edgewear to detached leaves, leaf A4 loosening at head but secure. Ownership signature of Sir Frederick Pollock ("F. Pollock/ Linc: Inn/ 1898") to verso of initial blank. Item housed in archival box. $750. * This 1678 edition of Sir Henry Finch's Law represents a rare physical intersection of legal history's greatest minds. It bears the ownership signature of Sir Frederick Pollock (1845-1937), the preeminent Victorian jurist whose work, much like Finch's, sought to transform the "chaos of cases" into a coherent scientific system. Pollock was the lifelong confidant and intellectual foil to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Their celebrated correspondence, spanning nearly 60 years (1874-1932), is widely considered the most significant exchange in Anglo-American legal history. In their letters, they debated the very concepts found in this volume-negligence, contract theory, and the evolution of legal doctrine-effectively bridging the gap between the institutes of the 1600s and the pioneering Legal Realism of the 20th century. Before Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries redefined legal education, Finch's Law was the undisputed standard text. Described by Holdsworth as the "pioneer book" of English legal institutes, Finch provided the foundational definitions that Blackstone would later refine. Much of Finch's concise and authentic system was later incorporated into Blackstone's Co.
Price: $750.00
Book number 77750