ADAIR (James):

Glimpses behind Edinburgh City Life. An Address. Delivered by request to a body of representative Church and published by certain of their number. For Private Circulation.

[Edinbugh]@ Printed in Great Britain by William Blackwood & Sons Ltd. 1934. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 8vo, 183 x 120 mms., pp. [3] - 31 [32 blank], with pagination including paper wrappers. A little worn at corners but a very good copy. James Adair, O.B.E. (1886-1982) was the Procurator-Fiscal for Edinburgh from 1919 to 1937. He is very much a bête noire for the LGBT community, and Jeff Meek, in a blog entitled "Queer Scotland Scottish Queer History and Culture," describes him as "unwavering [in his] opposition to homosexual law reform." In this pamphlet, he describes the less salubrious side of life in Edinburgh: drinking habits, prostitution, "coffee-stalls," and directly warns against "men in our midst who have secrets in their breasts that they must keep, and who require courage and help if any of that type prepared to play on their knowledge get a grip of them." Adair was a member of the committee that formed the Wolfenden report, which recommended that "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence"; Adair was the only one on the committe to oppose this proposition, Uncommon: the only copy that I have located is in the NLS.

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Book number: 8555

Catalogue: Law

Keywords: law Edinburgh prose

BRYDALL (John):

Lex Spuriorum Or the Law related to Bastardy. Collected from the Common, Civil, and Ecclesiastical Laws.

London, Printed by the Assigns of Richard and Edward Atkins..., 1703. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 165 x 102 mms., pp. [xvi], 227 [228 blank], recent full calf, new end-papers; text browned ESTC S122159 (ten copies world-wide); Sweet & Maxwell I p. 498.3 According to the Oxford DNBN, John Brydall/Bridall (?1635 - 1705) "matriculated as a commoner in Queen's College, Oxford, on 15 July 1652, graduating BA on 28 June 1655. Four months earlier, on 22 February, he had enrolled as an inner barrister at Lincoln's Inn, being listed in the admission register there as the 'heir app[arent]' of his father (Lincoln's Inn, 270). He was called to the bar in 1662. Thirty years later Anthony Wood noted that Brydall, who was 'afterwards a common lawyer … hath published several things of his profession' (Wood, Ath. Oxon., 2.786)..... Generally, the works ascribed to him reflect a very wide range of jurisprudential expertise, covering such topics as the laws and customs of London, the rights and privileges of the nobility and gentry, conveyancing, bastardy, and lunacy. They also indicate a strongly conservative and pro-monarchical frame of mind." See also Wolfgang Schmidgen, 'Illegitimacy and Social Observation: The Bastard in the Eighteenth-Century Novel," ELH, Vol. 69, No. 1 (Spring, 2002), pp. 133-166: "John Brydall's Lex Spuriorum (1703), the first legal treatise devoted exclusively to the problem of illegitimacy, collects and summarizes terms and arguments that have been instrumental in legal definitions of illegitimacy. The ambiguities in Brydall's text begin with a characterization of the bastard as imultaneously "filius populi"-the child of the people-and "nullius filius"-the child of no one. Belonging to everyone and no one, the bastard gains an additional layer of ambiguity by its description as "Terrae-Filius," the child of the earth: "a astard is Filius Terrae, Filius Populi, and quasi nullius filius." To complicate things further, Brydall points out that the bastard as filius terrae has to be imagined as "rising out of the ground like the Wind," and the bastard thus unites the opposing forces of wind and earth, the necessarily common, intangible, elusive, with the tangible and possessible. These richly contradictory terms suggest an unnatural birth, but in law, as Brydall reminds us, the bastard is considered to be a "natural" child because he is born outside the institution of marriage and thus outside the established frameworks of culture and custom. What is remarkable about these strange terms is that Brydall shows no concern whatsoever about their inconsistency. There is not a single moment in his treatise when Brydall laments or even remarks on these proliferating categories. In fact, he is happy to use the terms "Filius Terrae, Filius Populi, and quasi nullius filius" jointly to characterize the bastard. Such unconcern, it seems to me, signals more than an acceptance of the arcana of English common law. It suggests that the law actively contributes to the cultural production of the bastard as a multifarious, polyvalent creature that eludes defini- tion by oscillating between categories.'

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Book number: 10330

Catalogue: Law

Keywords: law bastard prose

CONCINA (Daniello):

Usura Contractus Trini Dissertationibus Historico-Theologicis emonstrata Adversus mollioris Ethices Casuistas, & Nicolaum Broedersen Authore F. Daniele Concina Ordinis Praedicatorum. Accedunt Appendices duae ad Commentarium Authoris adversus Usuram. Editio Secunda.

Romae: Ex Typographia Palladis Apud Nicolaum et Marcum Palearinos Superiorum Facultate. MDCCXLVIII [1748]. 4t0, 228 x 178, pp. xx, 288, contemporary vellum, remains of cords at fore-edge, most of front free end-paper removed, front hinge cracked with interior of spine visible; with a late 20th century inscription on front paste-down end-paper: "1 Jan 77/A Rare book/ for rare friends/ Douglas Todd" Born in Clauzetto in Italy, Daniel or Daniello Concina (1687-1756) was an early and influential Dominican preacher, author, and theologian. This work, Usura Contractus Trini, was written on the history of usury and in it Concina vigorously disputed the work by Nicolaus Broedersen of Delft. Broedersen is believed to have been born around 1690, and to have died in either 1762 or 1772. The book Concina took as the target of his criticism was Broedersen's De Usuris Licitis et Illicitis from 1743, whose publication some regarded as outright scandalous. The first edition of Concina's Usura Contractus Trini came out in 1746, and this second came out in 1748. Both editions are so rare that COPAC finds no physical copy of either. In stark contrast to the rarity of this work in the English-speaking world is Concina's central place in eighteenth-century European theological thinking: Peter O'Brien, Professor of Moral Theology, reminds us that Concina was the "leader of antiprobabilists in 18th century", and that while "teaching philosophy to Dominican students at Forli, he prepared for the preaching career in which he achieved much popularity in Rome and northern Italy. His sermons were aimed at renewing the ancient Christian spirit of heroic self-denial, penance, and uncompromising separation from worldly contamination … . He was a prolific writer, mainly on the moral questions in controversy in his day: the vow of poverty, the Lenten fast, usury, the theater, and especially probabilism. … . Concina's greatest work, the 12-volume Theologia Christiana dogmatico-moralis [Rome (Venice) 1749–51, 1755], brought the 18th-century phase of the probabilist controversy to a climax. The author conceived it as a definitive exposition of sound Christian moral theology. It was accepted and used as such by many seminaries and schools of theology, either in the principal edition or in a two-volume compendium (Venice 1760). The Jesuits petitioned the pope to condemn it for its errors and anti-Jesuit bias. The pope, after examining Concina's reply to these charges, personally dictated a declaration in Italian that closely follows the language of Concina's reply. The pope requested that this declaration be translated into Latin, and it appeared in a subsequent edition. Few changes were made in the text of this new edition, but the author added a chapter to its preface expressing high esteem for the Society of Jesus, declaring his intention was not to attack persons but opinions that he judged perniciously lax, and professing willingness to retract any error in his doctrine and to right any wrong unwittingly done to anyone. Concina, in all his controversies, had the encouraging support of Benedict XIV and other illustrious personages" (Encyclopedia.com).

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Book number: 10037

Catalogue: Law

Keywords: law usury prose

GILBERT (Sir Jeffray):

The Law and Practice of Distress and Replevin, by the late Lord Chief Baron Gilbert. To which is added An Appendix of Precedents. The Third Edition, with Considerable Additions, Taken from former and later Reports, and other Books of Authority; And full Practical Directions, from the Seizure of the Distress to the Sale and Suing a Replevin. By William Hunt, of Lincoln's Inn.

London: printed by A. Strahan and W. Woodfall, Law Printers to the King's Most Excellent Majesty; for E. and R. Brooke..., 1794. 8vo, 209 x 13o mms., pp. [v], vi - xii, 339 [340 blank], [56 - index], recently rebound in quarter calf, marbled boards, morocco labels; title-page slightly detached at inner margin, but a sound copy. Sir Jeffray Gilbert (1674–1726) was a distinguished judge and legal writer; he left a number of manuscripts, and this work was first published posthumously in 1755. It derived from a very lengthy manuscript on English law, which he left unpublished and incomplete. The only work that Gilbert published, and that anonymously, in his lifetime was an Abstract of Locke's 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding' (1709). Gilbert's description of replevin (in English law, a legal remedy for a person to recover goods unlawfully withheld from his or her possession) was one of the first works to treat the concept so thoroughly.

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Book number: 7808

Catalogue: Law

Keywords: law replevin prose

HEINECCIUS (Johann Gottlieb):

Elementa Juris Civilis secundum Ordinem Institutionum. Commoda Auditoribus Methodo adornat a Jo. Gottl. Heineccio, IC. Editio Octava. Emendatior et Indicibus Necessariis Aucta.

Edinburgi, Venales Prostant apud Gordon et Murray. 1780. 8vo (in 4s), 211 x 121 mms., pp. [iv], 418 [419 - 445, 446 blank], contemporary calf, red leather label; end-papers affected by camp, but a good copy with the armorial bookplate of Cuninghame of Lainshaw on the front paste-down end-paper, and the autograph and date "Tho Cuninghame 1780" on the top margin of the recto of the front free end-paper. The provenance is probably that of Thomas Cuninghame, eldest son of the eccentric William Cuninghame, the "Tobacco Lord," who made a fortune in the American colonies between 1748 and 1762, but who was disinherited by his father. Heineccius (1681 - 1741) was one of the most important philosophical jurists of his time, and he treated law as if it were one of the sciences. The first edition of this work was published in Amsterdam in 1731 ESTC N9119 locates copies in Aberdeen, NLS (3), and Dublin Honourable Society of King's Inn in these islands; Library and Archives, Canada; Massachusetts State and Rochester in USA; and Canterbury and State Library of Victoria Down Under.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 7617

Catalogue: Law

Keywords: law philosophy prose

JENKINS (David):

The Works of that Grave and Learned Lawyer Judge Jenkins, Prisoner in Newgate. Upon Divers Statutes, Concerning, the Liberty, and Freedome of the Subject. With a perfect Table thereto annexed.

London, Printed for M. Walbanck, and J. Gyles, 1648 12mo, pp. [xxvi], 203 [204 blank], including blank leaf following table of contents, engraved portrait, recently recased in unsympathetic quarter green library buckram, boards, amateurishly labelled on spine; resewn, with inner margins of frontispiece and title-page disappearing into gutter, other inner margins visible (some just), small hole it title-page affect one half of the "W" in "Works". Jenkins (1582 - 1663) was appointed judge just as the civil war started in 1642; as a royalist, he was ardent in defending the monarch and was charged with high treason in 1646. This was one of several publications that he issued while he was imprisoned. Wing J 577.

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Book number: 3154

Catalogue: Law

Keywords: law history prose

MAINWARING (Sir Thomas):

The Legitimacy of Amica, Daughter of Hugh Cyveliok, Earl of Chester, Clearly Proved. With Full Answers to all Objections that have at any time been made against the same.

London, Printed for Sam. Lowndes..., 1679. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 164 x 103 mms., pp. [x], 171 [172 blank], title-page in red and black. AND: A Reply to an Answer To the Defence of Amicia, Daughter of Hugh Cyveliok, Earl of Chester. Wherein it is Proved, That the Reasons Alleadged [sic] by Sir Peter Leicester, In his from Book, and also in his said Answer, concerning the Illegitimacy of the said Amicia, are invalid, and of no weight at all. By Sir Thomas Mainwaring of Peover in Cheshire, Baronet. 8vo, 164 103 mms., pp. [ii], 105 [106 balnk], with the autograph of George Shakerley on the top margin of the title-page. 2 volumes, similarly bound in contemporary calf, richly gilt spines, number I and II, with the book label of C. J. Shakerley, Esa. Somerford Park, Congleton, Cheshire, on the front paste-down end-paper of each volume; front free end-paper in first volume detached, arithmetical calculations in pencil on recto of second front free end-paper, both volumes with joints cracked and spines rubbed. "Like his father, Mainwaring loved books and cultivated learning. Between 1673 and 1679 he and his kinsman Sir Peter Leycester exchanged insults and arguments in print over the illegitimacy of their remote common ancestress, Amicia, daughter of Hugh of Cyfeilog, earl of Chester, alleged in Leycester's Historical Antiquities (1673) and denied by Mainwaring. Eventually their arguments ranged over much of the social and political life of the twelfth century, and in so doing represented a milestone in historiography. These antagonists—both possessed of legal training, antiquarian zeal, and significant personal muniments—were able to urge each other, and occasionally themselves, to interpret twelfth-century material from the viewpoint of a twelfth-century nobleman, and not as a quaint aberration" (ODNB). A salutary example to those who wish to judge manners, values, and mores of Victorian times by today's modish inanities.

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Book number: 8565

Catalogue: Law

Keywords: law family history prose

[MONTESQUIEU (Charles-Louis de Secondat]:

De l'Esprit des Loix. Nouvelle Edition, Avec les dernieres Corrections & Illustrations de l'Auteur.

A Edinbourg, Chez G. Hamilton & J. Balfour, 1750 FIRST SCOTTISH EDITION. 2 volumes. 8vo (in 4s), 198 x 112 mms., pp. xxviii, 458 [459 errata, 460 blank]; xvii [xviii errata], 487 [488 blank], contemporary lightly polished, spine gilt in compartments with curious ichthyological ornament (sort of a sea creature or mermaid with its tail curved towards its head), red leather label; very slight rubbing of joints, but a fine set, with the later bookplate of Sir James Miller Bart of Manderston, probably the racehorse owner (1864 - 1906). Hamilton and Balfour had published a few minor French works in translation before 1750, but this was their first full-length publication in French. They issued subscription proposals for this edition, claiming, not unusually for 18th century publishers, that their edition would be more correct than those published in London and Geneva, where it was first published in 1748. The subscription proposals were announced in the Caledonian Mercury on 1 June 1749: "As the publishers of this work are to spare neither Expence nor Pains, in having it elegantly printed, and carefully corrected from the Errors both of the Geneva and London Editions, and at as cheap, if not a cheaper Price than either: It is hoped that all Lovers of Learning, and Well-wishers to their Country, will rather chuse to encourage this first Attempt of reprinting a valuable foreign Book among ourselves, than any other Edition...." One of those who expressed enthusiasm for the project was David Hume, who let Montesquieu know what was happening. Montesquieu sent Hume many corrections, which Hume passed on to the publishers, when the work was almost completed. Four leaves in each volume were cancelled and replaced with new leaves, though errors still remained. Hamilton and Balfour later issued an English translation of the two chapters most likely to interest British readers, Two Chapters of A celebrated French work, Intitled, De l'Esprit des Loix, Translated into English, one, Treating Of the Constitution of England; another, Of the Character and Manners which result from this Constitution. Hamilton and Balfour offered this for 10s. sewed, or 12s bound, and this appears to be a publisher's binding. ESTC T121684 locates 11 copies in UK libraries, one in Europe, one in Australia, and UCLA, Kansas, Penn, and Trinity College in North America.

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Book number: 7008

Catalogue: Law

Keywords: law printing history prose Scottish Enlightenment

MORRIS (Robert):

A Letter to Sir Richard Aston, Knt. One of the Judges of his Majesty's Court of King's Bench, and late Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland; Containing a Reply to his scandalous Abuse, and some Thoughts on the Modern Doctrine of Libels. The Fourth Edition.

London: Printed for Geo. Pearch..., 1770. 8vo (in 4s), pp. [iv], 68, including half-title, disbound. Morris was defending John Wilkes for seditious libel in reprinting a "scandalous" work in The London Museum, when he was abused by the judge, Sir Richard Aston; he appeals to the works of the Chief Justice Mansfield in his rebuke to Aston. ESTC T3150 locates copies in L; l CaQMM, CSmH, and OKentU.

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Book number: 4988

Catalogue: Law

Keywords: law History prose

[PEYRONNET (Pierre-Denis Charles, comte de)]:

Compte General de l'Administration de la Justice Criminelle en France, Pendant l'Amee 1825, Presente au Roi, par le Garde des Sceaux, Ministre Secretaire d'Etat au Department de la Justice.

Paris, de l'Imprimerie Royale. 1827. FIRST EDITION. 4to, 283 x 218 mms., pp. xi [xii contents, xiii first part, xiv blank], 110 [111 Errata, 112 blank, 113 - 116 index], handsomely bound in full red straight-grain morroco, gilt roll borders on cover, with two borders in blind, and a central modified lozenge in each panel, spine richly gilt, all edges gilt, blue silk end-papers; additional plain end-papers slightly foxed, some very slight wear to joints, but a very, very good to find copy. This first scientific report on crime in France was prepared by the Count de Peyronnet (1778-1854), who ountersigned the ordinances that provoked the July Revolution of 1830 and put an end to the regime. The minister reports thus on the administration of justice during the reign of Charlex X of France (1757 - 1836).

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Book number: 9167

Catalogue: Law

Keywords: law binding prose

REBUFFI (Pierre):

Praxis Beneficiorum Utilissima, Acquirendi, conseruandique illa, ac amittendi modos continens, usumque & stylum literarum Curiae Romanae, formas denique signaturae, Bullae simplicis, ac nouae prouisionis dispensationisque, atque aliarum literarum gratiae, clausularumque; in eis con tentarum, adhaec regularum Cancellariae explicationem, & aliorum, que ad hanc materiam spectant, et que in foren sieuersantur indicio, prout indicat sequens pagina. Autore D. Petro Rebuffo de Montepessulano.... Accessit his singularium materiarum locupletissimus Index in gratiam studiosorum per elementa Alphabetica uenustè digestus.

Venetiis Ioan Gryphius Excudebat, 1554. 4to, 208 x 156 mms., pp. [viii], 456 [457 - 536 Index], contemporary vellum, title in ink on spine; ties gone, binding a bit soiled, but text clean and fresh; a very good copy. The jurist and legal scholar Pierre Rebuffi Pierre Rebuffi (1487-1557) made one of the most substantial contributions to canon law in the 16th century. He taught canon law at several universities, including Montpelier, Toulouse, Cahors, and in Paris. Professor Howell A. Lloyd, in "Constitutional Thought in Sixteenth Century France: The Case of Pierre Rebuffi" (French History, 1994) notes that Rebuffi belonged to the school of thought that favoured authoritarian monarchy. "Chief amongst his writings were treatises on the law concerning ecclesiastical benefices. In his Praxis Beneficiorum, he provided a thorough-going examination of the conditions upon which benefices might be gained, held, and resigned."

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Book number: 9077

Catalogue: Law

Keywords: law monarchy prose

TAYLOR (Jeffreys):

Parlour Commentaries on the Constitution and Laws of England; being a Familiar Explanation of the Nature of Government and the necessity of Legal Authority, with some Account of the proceedings in Parliament and Courts of Justice.

London: John Harris..., 1825. FIRST EDITION. 12mo, pp. vii [viii blank], 205 [206 blank, 207 - 208 adverts],with additional engraved title-page (soiled and mounted), engraved frontispiece, and a further engraved title-page, recent quarter calf, red morocco label, circular engraving of helmeted Greek figure on front paste-down end-paper.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 5838

Catalogue: Law

Keywords: law politics prose