The Countrey Justice: Containing the Practice of the Justices of the Peace out of their Sessions; Gathered for the better help of such Justices of Peace as have not been much conversant in the study of the Laws of this Realm.

Dalton, Michael.

Published by London: Printed by the Assignes of John More, 1635.

About this Item

Folio (284x190mm), engraved title page, pp: [10]+502,[9], irregular pagination, complete, text very good, clean and crisp and well margined, inscribed in ink to head of front free endpaper 'Charles H. Bull/Sol [solicitor?]/Oswestry'. (Oswestry Solicitors in Church Street during 19th century), front hinge slightly split to head, in full contemporary calf with paper label lettered in ink, with wear to extremities & head & tail of spine, & mark to rear cover, however sound, tight and very good. A good copy. See page 279 for references to witchcraft and the behaviour of witches. The book is a manual which was used by English Justices of the Peace and offers advice on a wide range of issues including levying customs, highways, prisons, riots, soldiers, murder, felonies, rogues, vagabonds, wool and high treason. The alphabetical listing of topics was ground breaking and was a model for the structure of other books that came later. Michael Dalton (1564-1644), from Cambridge, was an English barrister and legal writer. His works were well-known and much used during his lifetime and later can possibly account for the conduct of the defendants in the Trial of Thomas Cornell for murdering his mother, Rebecca Cornell, in Rhode Island, USA, in 1673. Seller Inventory # 2211

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Countrey Justice: Containing the ...

Publisher: London: Printed by the Assignes of John More, 1635.

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good