Principles of Penal Law. 3rd Edition, London, 1775

Eden, William, 1st Baron Auckland

Publication Date: 1775

About this Item

"A Pioneer Treatise" that Anticipated Bentham and Romilly Eden, William, 1st Baron Auckland [1744-1814]. Principles of Penal Law. London: Printed for B. White and T. Cadell, 1775. xxvii, [1], 331, [1] pp. Leaves Y2-Y5 (pp. 323-330) bound out of order, text complete. Octavo (9" x 5-1/2"). Recent buckram, gilt title to spine, endpapers renewed. Moderate soiling and light shelfwear to exterior, library bookplate and small shelf label to front pastedown. Moderate toning to interior, occasional light foxing, cracks in text block after half-title, which is loosening slightly but secure, and final text leaf, small ink library stamps to title page and a few other leaves, later annotations, one attributing the work, the other, reading "Westdean Lib: 1813," to title page. $450. * Third and final edition. First published in 1771, Holdsworth says that this book "is a pioneer treatise. It discusses topics which, under the influence of Bentham and Romilly, aroused much attention in the last years of the eighteenth and the first years of the nineteenth century; and it discussed them effectively, because, as the author says in his closing chapter he had tried to establish his principles not as abstract propositions, 'but rather as argumentative inferences, interwoven with, and to be collected from, observations on the penal systems of different governments. (.) The conclusion which he draws, that the reform of the English penal code 'is become an important and almost necessary work,' is irresistible. (.) The book is a remarkable precursor of that new era of agitation for the reform of the law, which, under Bentham's leadership, was soon to begin." West Dean was the estate of the naval officer, bibliophile and art collector Henry John Peachey, 3rd Baron Selsey [1787-1838]. Holdsworth, A History of English Law XII:364-65. English Short-Title Catalogue T63051.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Principles of Penal Law. 3rd Edition, London, 1775
• Publication Date: 1775
• Binding: Hardcover
• Seller catalogs:
  • Antiquarian & Scholarly