Commentaries on the Laws of England. - William Blackstone, Esq. Solicitor General to Her Majesty

1770 - The Clarendon Press, Oxford - Fourth Edition
It Is Better That Ten Persons Escape, Than That One Innocent Suffer.

‘Blackstone's great work on the laws of England is the extreme example of justification of an existing state of affairs by virtue of its history. Until the ‘Commentaries’, the ordinary Englishman had viewed the law as a vast, unintelligible and unfriendly machine; nothing but trouble, even danger, was to be expected from contact with it. Blackstone's great achievement was to popularise the law and the traditions which had influenced its formation.’
Printing and the Mind of Man.

An attractive four volume quarto set [28 x 23 cm] in contemporary full calf binding. With two engraved tables, being the
Table of Consanguinity [Vol. II p.203] and the folding Table of Descents [Vol. II p.240]. 
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Price HK$ 40,000



Lex Parliamentaria: or, a treatise of the law and custom of parliaments. Shewing their antiquity, names, kinds, and qualities. Of the three Estates; and of the Dignity and Excellency of Parliaments, their Power and Authority. Of the Election of Members of the House of Commons in general, their Privilege, Qualifications, and Duties. Of the Electors; and their Rights, Duties; and Manner of Elections. Of the Returns to Parliament; the Sheriff's and other Officers Duty therein. Of the Manner of Election of the Speaker; and of his Business and Duty. Of the Manner of passing Bills, and the Orders to be observed in the House of Commons. Of Sessions of Parliament; as also of Prorogations and Adjournments: Together with the proper Laws and Customs of Parliaments. With an appendix of a case in Parliament between Sir Francis Goodwyn and Sir John Fortescue, for the Knights Place for the County of Bucks, 1 Jac. I. - Philips George

Circa 1701 - Printed for J. Stagg, London - The Second Edition, with large additions
A very rare printing of the second and enlarged edition, first published in 1690.

This has until recently usually been attributed to George Petyt. The new attribution to the Irishman George Philips (1599?-1696) seems now to be widely accepted, however, an attribution originally claimed by both Sir James Ware (History of Irish writers, 1736) and Walter Harris, the History's editor.

Lex Parliamentaria is a comprehensive treatise on the history of the rules, customs and practices of the English Parliamentary system at about the time of the Bill of Rights which had established, inter alia, that subjects had a right to petition the King, that elections of Members of Parliament should be free, and that Parliament should sit frequently.

Philips considers the development of Parliamentary powers, the election of Members, the rights and duties of electors, elections, the passing of Bills and the management of Parliamentary business. William and Andrew Bradford published an American edition in New York in 1716.’ [John Edwards]
 
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Price HK$ 12,000



Shanghai: its Mixed Court and Council - A. M. Kotenev

1925 - North-China Daily News &, Shanghai - First Edition
A rare first edition of the most detailed work on Shanghai’s Municipal Council and Mixed Court from 1842 to 1924, the year before its demise.

Contents: Rules for the Mixed court, 1869. Rules of procedure of the International mixed court, 1914 and 1919, supplemented with provisions on general principles of the modern procedural laws of China, 1921. The provisional Criminal code of the republic of China. The provisional Criminal code amendment act.--The revised draft of the law on offences relating to morphine. The Chinese Supreme court decisions (1923). Rules for application of foreign laws (1921). Regulations relating to commerce. Copyright, 1916. The Law of publication, 1914. Rules of the Court of consuls. Land regulations and bye-laws for the Foreign settlement of Shanghai.
 
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Price HK$ 5,000



Haraszthy at the Mint - Famous Californian Trials, Volume 10 - Brian McGinty

1975 - Printed by Richard J. Hoffman, Los Angeles - First Edition, limited to 300 copies
Agoston Haraszthy, the ‘father of Californian wine’, best known for his pioneering work in the vineyards of Sonoma, was indicted in 1857 for alleged embezzlement of gold from the San Francisco Mint. He was acquitted of all charges after a four year trial. This is the story of this early adventure in Haraszthy’s colourful and fascinating life.

One of only 300 copies printed, a lovely private press presentation with ten illustrations, and the original advertisement/flier loosely inserted.

‘Decorated initials went out of fashion in the late 18th century as book design became more austere. They returned in modern times with the fine printing renaissance. Brian McGinty’s Haraszthy at the Mint (Los Angeles: Dawson’s Book Shop, 1975), also from the “Law Books Bright and Beautiful” exhibit, is an example.’ – Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library.
 
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Price HK$ 2,000



The Paper Chase - John Jay Osborn

1971 - Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston - First Edition
John Jay Osborn’s ‘Paper Chase’ is the story of a young midwesterner, James Hart, who finds himself in the great classrooms of Langdell Hall at Harvard Law School, locked in a zero-sum game with a dominating, omniscient deity: Professor Kingsfield. Osborn wrote this, his first novel, whilst studying at Harvard Law School. It was made into a movie starring John Houseman and Timothy Bottoms. Houseman won an Oscar for his performance as contracts professor Kingsfield, it was also turned into a television series.

Included with this copy is the HUL (News Notes of the Harvard University Library) dated September 1971, it contains a rather critical review of the novel.
 
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Price HK$ 3,200



The Crooked Samaritan - Inscribed - Paul Trent (Pseud. of Edward Platt)

1933 - Ward, London and Melbourne - First Edition
Inscribed to the half title ‘To Llew. S. Jones, from his friend The Author, December 1933’ and signed ‘Paul Trent’ to the title page.

A fine signed and inscribed first edition of this courtroom drama in a very good example of the rare dust jacket.

Featuring Roger Welby, Barrister and gentleman romantic, who comes to the aid of his persecuted father, a lawyer who had been tempted away from his profession by the riches of the city and a life of financial schemes which finally proved his undoing. The author, Edward Platt was himself a solicitor.

Paul Trent was the pseudonym of Edward Platt (1872-1946), English solicitor, goalkeeper (made his debut for Gloucester AFC as a goalkeeper in 1889), and prolific novelist who wrote over 80 books under the pseudonyms of Paul Trent and Wilmot Kaye.
 
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Ten Thousand A-Year - Samuel Warren

1889 - Little, Boston - Number 69 of a limited 200 copies
A fine and finely bound three volume set, the upper covers blocked in gilt with the crest, coat of arms and motto of ‘Tittlebat Titmouse Esq M.P. according to the description of Sir Gorgeous Tintack, Garter King at Arms.’ Volume I with sepia toned portrait frontispiece on vellum.

Samuel Warren (1807-77) was an English barrister, Member of Parliament for Midhurst, and author of a number of books both fiction and non-fiction.

Ten Thousand A-Year’ is his second novel, one of the most popular of the era and some consider the first to feature a lawyer as the main character. It concerns a firm of attorneys who discover that Tittlebat Titmouse, a poor draper's clerk, may have a claim to the large estate of Yatton. The attorneys commence an action which results in Titmouse displacing the unbelievably pious John Aubrey as the owner of the estate, and its annual income of £10,000. Titmouse revels in his new found wealth, until a new round of litigation is commenced which returns Aubrey to his place as squire of Yatton. Titmouse is disgraced, and ends his life in a lunatic asylum.

The narrator repeatedly tells the reader that the English legal system is close to perfection, but the actual workings of the law in ‘
Ten Thousand a-Year’ paint a more negative picture. Dickens seems to have read Warren's fiction and non-fiction, and to have borrowed images and ideas." [ODNB].

In addition to Warren’s knowledge of the law, he was well versed on asylum and the welfare of the mentally ill, occupying the position of ‘Master in Lunacy’ [1859-77].
 
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Price HK$ 5,200