THE NORTH CAROLINA JUSTICE: Containing a Summary Statement of the Statutes and Common Law of this State, Together with the Decisions of the Supreme Court, and All the Most Approved Forms and Precedents, relating to the Office and Duty of a Justice of the Peace and Other Public Officers, According to Modern Practice

Octavo, 540pp. A good copy, bound in contemoprary full sheep, with much-faded spine label. Spine worn at the base, spotting and soiling to extremities, some uneven age-toning internally, and occasional dampstaining, but still a sound, otherwise clean copy, with no restoration. An important legal reference, filled with examples of forms and documents to be used by justices of the peace and notaries in the state of North Carolina in the late-1830s, and based on all of the most recent statues and laws of the state. The contents are well-organized, providing the text of various laws, followed by forms, and then some "adjudged cases." Chapter CXI (pp. 450-469) is entitled "Slaves and Free Persons of Color," and it describes in harrowing detail the legal position Black people in North Carolina. Various punishments for slaves who break laws are described, most of these consisting of "thirty-nine lashes." Among these crimes are "gambling" and "selling spiritous liquors." The exemplary forms instruct judges and sheriffs on how to handle cases of runaway slaves and other eventualities. OCLC records are muddled, but the book is geuninely scarce in commerce. Not in Thornton (a seemingly exhaustive reference!).…