Commentaries on American Law. 1895 new and revised ed, Vol I only.
Kent, James [1763-1847]. Lacy, William M. Commentaries on American Law. New York: Banks & Bros., 1895 new and thoroughly revises. Volume I of a four-volume set. Octavo (9-1/2" x 5-1/2"). Brown library buckram with gilt stamped spine. Fine. Internally clean. $95. * 1895 new and thoroughly revised edition of the 1889 edition. Kent's Commentaries is probably the single most important interpretation of American law. Writing in 1847, Marvin ranked it above Blackstone and observes that it contains "not only a clear statement of the English law, with all the alterations that have taken place since the time of Blackstone, but a full account of the main principles of Equity, also, a review of the modifications engrafted on the English law by the different states of the Union." Marvin's latter observation points to the significance of this landmark work. Published at a time when there was considerable opposition to English law, Kent's Commentaries established it in a manner that appealed to the majority of influential American jurists and legislators. As Roper notes, by transplanting English common law, the Commentaries "had the two-prong effect of helping to maintain the primacy of judge-made law in contrast to codification by legislatures, while providing the legal profession with the degree and kind of certainty it craved." Marvin, Legal Bibliography 438. Roper, "James Kent" in American National Biography 12:598-199. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 5407.
Price: $95.00
Book number 83476