A Treatise on the Law of Evidence. 1st American ed.
First American Edition of Phillipps's Foundation Treatise on Evidence Phillipps, S[amuel] March [1780-1862]. [Dunlap, John A.(1793?-1858?)], Editor, Notes. A Treatise on the Law of Evidence.... With Notes and References to American Authorities. To Which is Added, The theory of Presumptive Proof, &c. New York: Published by Gould, Banks, & Gould, And by Gould & Co., Albany, 1816. xliii, 520, 106 pp. Octavo (9" x 5-1/2"; 22.8 x 13.9 cm). Contemporary calf, blind fillets to boards, lettering piece and blind fillets to spine. Light rubbing to boards, faint early owner name (W.S. Ely) to head of front board, moderate rubbing to extremities with a bit of wear to spine ends and corners, front joint partially cracked, early owner bookplate (Abraham T. Rose) to front pastedown. Moderate toning and foxing to interior, faint dampstaining in places, early annotations to rear endleaves. A sound, very good copy. $750. * First American edition, star-paged to the second London edition (1815). This edition includes the supplementary treatise, Phillipps' Theory of Presumptive Proof; or, An Inquiry into the Nature of Circumstantial Evidence. This is widely regarded as the first modern, systematic textbook on evidence law. Prior to Samuel March Phillipps, legal rules regarding evidence were scattered across disparate bench manuals, courtroom summaries, and unindexed case reporters. Phillipps organized the field into a rational legal framework, emphasizing underlying principles rather than an exhaustive list of precedents. First published in London in 1814, the treatise went through ten English editions and numerous American printings, serving as the standard authority in Anglo-American courts for over half a century. Among its notable lasting contributions, Phillipps popularized the legal presumption of death-the rule that a missing person unheard from for seven years is presumed dead-which was rapidly integrated into early 19th-century American statutory and common law. This first American edition was published simultaneously in New York and Albany by the legal publishing firm Gould & Banks. Editor John A. Dunlap appended The Theory of Presumptive Proof, a critical examination of circumstantial evidence and capital punishment cases that proved indispensable to early American trial lawyers evaluating high-stakes criminal defenses.
Price: $750.00
Book number 87098