[Rarebooks] A Selection of Lawbook Exchange Titles

[The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.]

Wednesday, April 12, 2006, 5:18 PM:

The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. is pleased to offer the following items.
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Offers catalogue, please visit our website: www.lawbookexchange.com

                    Concerns the Alabama Claims
1.  Balch, Thomas. International Courts of Arbitration. Edited with an
Introduction and Additional Notes. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane and
Scott, 1914. xiii, 69 pp. Portrait frontispiece. Two fold-out tables.
Original red three quarter morocco, rebacked retaining original spine,
top edge gilt. Moderate soiling and scuffing, internally clean. A good
copy. $35.
* Fifth edition. A revised edition of the original 1874 edition
concerning the U.S. claims for the ship "the Alabama" during the Civil
War. Provides much of the history and the need for the establishment
of the International Court of Justice for the settlement of such
disputes between nations. Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at
New York University (1953) 632.
http://www.ilabdatabase.com/member/detail.php3?custnr=&membernr=1661&ordernr=497


   First and Only French Edition of Livingston's Criminal Code
 Livingston, Edward [1764-1836]. Expose d'un Systeme de Legislation
2.   Criminelle pour L'Etat de la Louisiane et Pour Les Etats-Unis
D'Amerique. Precede d'une Preface Par. M. Charles Lucas, et d'une
Notice Historique Par M. Mignet.  Paris: Guillaumin, 1872. Two
volumes. Octavo (5-1/2" x 8-1/2"). Contemporary three-quarter morocco
over marbled boards, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt. Front boards
skillfully reattached, extremities rubbed, small chip to head of spine
of Volume One. Occasional light foxing, interior otherwise clean. A
good set in an attractive binding. $200.
* First and only French edition. Reflecting the reformist spirit of
the early nineteenth century, Livingston aimed not only to punish
crime, but to reform the criminal and prevent future criminal activity
through social reform. According to Marke, the codes "embody the most
comprehensive and enlightened system of criminal law that has been
presented to the world" (451). While Livingston's code was never
adopted, Bentham, Story, Marshall, Madison and Kent wrote him letters
of approval. It also went on to exercise considerable influence in
European.  A reviewer said in 1836: "No one can fail to be impressed
especially with the enlightened spirit of philanthropy, the single aim
to benefit his fellow creatures, which breathes throughout these
discussions; and to this may be added, that there is always an
unaffected beauty and simplicity in the language, frequently rising,
when the topic demands it, to a fervent eloquence, which will command
the attention and interest of those who might be repelled by the
gravity and want of imagination, with which such subjects are
generally treated" (cited in Hicks, 179-180). Marke, A Catalogue of
the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 451. Hicks, Men and
Books Famous in the Law 159-189. Catalogue of the Library of the Law
School of Harvard University (1909) I:1187. Marvin, Legal Bibliography
(1847) 471.
http://www.ilabdatabase.com/member/detail.php3?custnr=&membernr=1661&ordernr=1570


                  "A Book Fit to be Burned"
3.   Siderfin, Thomas [1657-1670]. Les Reports des Divers Special Cases
Argue & Adjude en le Court del Bank le Roy. London: Printed by
W.Rawlins, S. Roycroft [and others] for Samuel Keble, 1683. [iv], 467,
[82] pp. Folio (8-1/2" x 11"). Early calf, rebacked. Ex-library, with
stamps. Binding worn, hinges reinforced, dampstained throughout.
Numerous contemporary annotations. $175.
* First edition. Covers the period from 1657-70. While Roger North
praised Siderfin's Reports, Dolben thought it was "a book fit to be
burned; being...unworthily done by them that printed it;'"  Heterick
thought this "a remarkable censure, considering that Dolben was
himself one of the Justices who 'allowed' its publication." Despite
Dolben's acerbic comment, Siderfin is considered "a reporter of much
authority." Wallace, The Reporters 2951. Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal
Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations I:309(120).
Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard Law School (1909) II:588.
http://www.ilabdatabase.com/member/detail.php3?custnr=&membernr=1661&ordernr=4440


        Reports, Court of Common Pleas, 1737-1758
4.    Willes, Sir John [1685-1761]. Reports of Adjudged Cases in the Court
of Common Pleas.... London: Printed by A. Strahan for J. Butterworth,
1799. [iii], 4, [12], [2], 691, [34] pp. Folio (8" x 12"). Later
half-calf. Ex-library. Spine rubbed, boards worn, hinges reinforced,
but generally good. $200.
* First edition. Covers the period from 1737-58. These reports are
said to have been carefully written out by Willes, with a view to
publication, and have always been regarded as highly authoritative.
Marvin, Legal Bibliography (1847) 735-36. Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal
Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations I:310(128).
Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard Law School (1909) II:924.
http://www.ilabdatabase.com/member/detail.php3?custnr=&membernr=1661&ordernr=4510


     A Lethal Dose of Strychnine Intended to Induce Abortion
5.  [Trial]. Yerrinton, M.W. James, Reporter. Report of the Case of Geo.
C. Hersey, Indicted for the Murder of Betsy Frances Tirrell....
Boston: A. Williams & Co., 1862. 267 pp. Recent maroon cloth with
lettering piece, internally fresh. Ex-library. Stamp on title page. An
attractive copy. $100.
* First edition. "Hersey had been living in Weymouth [Massachusetts]
with the Tirrell family since the sudden death four months before of
their daughter and his fiancee, Mary Tirrell. A second daughter, Betsy
became pregnant by him, and he gave her a drug which he represented
would cause an abortion. Actually, it was strychnine which he had
obtained in Boston allegedly to poison a dog. He was convicted an
hanged. The preface claims this to be the only (in 1862) published
trial in which strychnine was detected by analysis in the deceased.":
McDade, The Annals of Murder 472. Catalogue of the Library of the
Harvard Law School (1909) II:1099. Marke, A Catalogue of the Law
Collection at New York University (1953) 990.
http://www.ilabdatabase.com/member/detail.php3?custnr=&membernr=1661&ordernr=5124


6.   Jeaffreson, John C. Middlesex County Records: Indictments, Coroners'
Inquests-- Post-Mortem and Recognizances from 3 Edward VI [to] 4 James
II. With an index by A.T. Watson. London: Middlesex County Records
Society, [1186-1892]. Four volumes. 369; 442; 564; 452 pp. Ex-library.
Original gilt stamped maroon cloth boards, expertly rebacked. $450.
* First editions. The Records are complete in four volumes. The
Quarter Sessions were the quarterly meetings of the whole body of the
justices of the peace for a county for the transaction of business.
With some exceptions, Quarter Sessions had original criminal
jurisdiction to try all all indictable offenses, and to sentence an
offender convicted by a magistrate's court. "The historian of the
future will thank the Middlesex County Records Society and its Editor
for recovering, tabulating, and printing these old documents.... The
work has been compiled with evident care... Throughout these pages
much information may be gleaned touching the manners and customs,
pleasures and occupations of our ancestors in the sixteenth century."
Times, Jan. 25, 1887. HLC II:113.
http://www.ilabdatabase.com/member/detail.php3?custnr=&membernr=1661&ordernr=5594


               Complete Reading Guild Records
7.   Guilding, J.M., Editor. Reading Records: Diary of the Corporation.
London: James Parker and Co., 1892-1896. Four volumes. Octavo (6" x
9"). Recent cloth retaining original lettering pieces, top edges gilt,
endpapers renewed. Light toning to leaves, interiors otherwise clean.
Ex-library. Institution stamps to title pages. A handsome set. $250.
* First edition. Complete in four volumes. Covers the County from
1431-1654. Contains the proceedings of the Guild and the Courts of the
town, as well as regulations affecting trades and crafts, markets and
fairs, extracts from charters and other matters throwing light on
municipal life.
http://www.ilabdatabase.com/member/detail.php3?custnr=&membernr=1661&ordernr=5595


             1818 Digest of Massachusetts Cases
8.   Bigelow, Lewis. A Digest of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme
Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, From Sept. 1804,
to Nov. 1815, as Contained in the Twelve First Volumes of the Reports.
Cambridge: University Press....Hilliard and Metcalf, 1818. [viii], 684
pp. Octavo (5" x 8-1/2"). Contemporary law calf, red and black
lettering pieces. Some rubbing with wear to board edges, joints and
corners, spine darkened, a few minor scuffs, hinges just starting.
Offsetting to margins of endleaves, interior otherwise fresh. $100.
* First edition. "The object of the author...has been to facilitate
knowledge and practice of the law by collecting all the principal
matters contained in the cases which have been decided by the Supreme
Judicial Court for the space of twelve years, and which lie scattered
through twelve large volumes, into a compact and systematick form, so
that they may be easily found and understood by all those who may have
occasion to resort to them for information or authority upon questions
of law.": Preface, [v]. Marvin, Legal Bibliography (1847) 117.
http://www.ilabdatabase.com/member/detail.php3?custnr=&membernr=1661&ordernr=6001


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Michael von der Linn
Cataloguer
The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
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and International League of Antiquarian Booksellers
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