Littleton's Tenures, In French and English, With an Alphabetical...
Copy of the First Edition of Littleton with Parallel Texts in English and Law-French Littleton, Sir Thomas [d. 1481]. Littleton's Tenures, In French and English. With an Alphabetical Table of the Principal Matters Therein Contained. London: Printed by John Streater, James Flesher and Henry Twyford, Assigns of Richard Atkins, And Edward Atkins, 1671. [xxii], 360, 371-436 (i.e. 426), [2] pp. Pagination irregular, text complete. Main text in parallel columns. 12mo. (5-1/2" x 3"). Contemporary calf, rebacked with raised bands, unlettered spine, rubbing to extremities, corners bumped and worn. Endpapers renewed. Light toning to text. $1,500. * First edition with parallel texts in English and Law French. Written during the reign of Edward IV [1442-1483] and first published around 1481, Littleton's Tenures is probably the most revered treatise in the history of the common law. Much admired for its learning and style, it is concerned with tenures and other issues relating to real property. This venerable work, which Coke called "the ornament of the Common Law, and the most perfect and absolute work that ever was written in any humane science," is considered a landmark because it renounced the principles of Roman law (and Latin) in favor of guidelines and doctrines drawn from the Year Books and, when necessary, hypothetical cases. Holdsworth, A History of English Law II:573. English Short-Title Catalogue R216066.
Price: $1,500.00
Book number 87304