Tractatus de Coniecturis Ultimarum Voluntatum, In Libros Duodecim...
Copy of a Landmark Treatise on Wills from the Law Library of the Duchy of Brabant Mantica, Francesco [1534-1614]. Tractatus de Coniecturis Ultimarum Voluntatum, In Libros Duodecim Distinctus.... Hac Novissima Editione ab Ipsomet Auctore Recognitum, Erroribus Expurgatum, & Plurimis Additionibus Adaucttum: Quae ut Facilius Discerni Possint, Diverso Litterarum Charactere, Suis Locis sunt Appositae. Cum Indice Rerum ac Materiarum Uberrimo. Frankfurt: Prostant in Officina Samuelis Crispini, 1612. [xvi], 748, [68] pp. Main text in double columns. Folio (13-1/4" x 8"; 33.6 x 20.3 cm). Eighteenth century sheep, gilt spine, gilt arms of the Duchy of Brabant to boards, date 1758 to front board below arms. Moderate rubbing and scuffing to boards, heavier rubbing to extremities with wear to board edges, spine ends and corners, hinges cracked, front free endpaper lacking. Moderate toning, somewhat heavier on places, faint, mostly negligible, dampstaining to edges of text block, light soiling to title page, which has a faint later embossed owner stamp, lower-outside corner of title page lacking. A good copy overall. $950. * Later edition, with the author's final revisions. This is widely considered the foundational and most influential early modern legal masterpiece on the interpretation of wills, estates, and testamentary intent under the continental ius commune (common European legal tradition). First published in 1580, this monument of civil and canon law remained the definitive authority for continental practitioners, judges, and estate scholars throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Before Mantica, inheritance disputes often devolved into rigid battles over literal wording. Mantica's treatise revolutionized the field by shifting the focus to the subjective intent of the testator. The word Coniecturis (conjectures or presumptions) in the title refers to the systematic framework he built to deduce what a dying person actually intended when their will was ambiguous, contradictory, or silent on a specific point. It bridges the gap between strict statutory law and the human realities of family dynamics, drafting errors, and unexpected deaths. Mantica was not just a cloistered academic; he was a powerhouse of the early modern legal system. He taught civil law at the University of Padua before serving as an auditor for the Sacra Rot.
Price: $950.00
Book number 86662