The Dialogue in English, Betweene a Doctor of Divinitie, And a.

London, 1638. A Classic English Work on Equity and the Philosophy of Law that Influenced Blackstone [Saint German (Germain), Christopher]. The Dialogue in English, Betweene a Doctor of Divinitie, And a Student in the Lawes of England. Newly Corrected and Imprinted with New Additions. [London]: Printed by the Assignes of John More, Esquire, 1638. 176, [4] ff. Octavo (5-1/2" x 3-1/2"). Later three-quarter calf over marbled boards, raised bands and lettering piece to spine, fragment of shelf location label (?) to foot, endpapers renewed. Light rubbing to extremities with negligible minor wear to corners, front hinge just starting at head, armorial bookplate (of William Carr) to front pastedown. Title printed within typographical border. Moderate toning to text, somewhat heavier in places, light foxing (or spotting) to a few leaves, headlines of a few leaves affected by trimming. There is an ownership inscription at the top margin of the title-page: "Arch[ibal]d Rosser / 27: April 1816". A very good copy with an interesting association. $650. * Later edition. With the second dialogue. Written originally in Latin in 1523 and cast in dialogic form, this was the first work to study the role of equity in common law and, by its nature, was the first jurisprudential work written in England. It also considers the relative merits of common, canon and civil law, the nature and object of law, the religious and moral standards of law, the foundations of the common law and issues regarding the jurisdiction of Parliament. Doctor and Student appeared in numerous editions. An authority well into the eighteenth century, it influenced several writers, including Blackstone. English Short-Title Catalogue S116404. This copy is from the library of Archibald Rosser (1789-1846), early nineteenth-century British solicitor and legal writer, who had chambers in New Boswell Court, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. One of his best-known works, still cited today, is Credit Pernicious (1823), which he first published anonymously but later claimed (see Halkett and Laing, A Dictionary of the Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature of Great Britain (1882), vol. 1, p. 532). His full name was Archibald Richard Francis Rosser, but he often went by simply Archibald Rosser.…