City-Liberties: Or, The Rights and Privileges of Freemen..

1732. A Handbook for the Freemen of London Jacob, Giles [1686-1744]. City-Liberties: Or, The Rights and Privileges of Freemen. Being a Concise Abridgment of All the Laws, Charters, By-Laws, And Customs of London, Down to this Time: Containing The Liberties and Advantages of the Citizens, Their Wives, Widows, Orphans, And Others; And the Laws Concerning Wills, Administration and Distribution of Estates, Actions, Attachments and Sequestrations. Also Of Binding Forth Apprentices, Taking out Freedoms, Election of Officers, and Courts in the City; Companies of Trade, &c. As Regulated by Late Statures. Very Useful To all Citizens and Other Inhabitants of the City of London. [London]: Printed by E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling, 1732. viii, 168, [8] pp. Two leaves at rear of text, both publisher advertisements, lacking. Octavo (7-1/2" x 4-3/4"). Later three-quarter morocco over textured cloth, gilt fillets and title to spine, title page re-hinged. Some rubbing to extremities, moderate toning and occasional faint dampstaining to text, light soiling to a few leaves, upper corner lacking from leaf I6 (pp. 123-124) with loss to a few words of text. Ex-library. Bookplate to front pastedown, stamps to front endleaf, verso of title page and head of preface. $350. * Only edition. Contents arranged alphabetically by topic. Jacob addressed this handbook to the "Freemen of London," even "the most common Readers" (viii). This distinction is significant. Jacob, though certainly interested in boosting sales by attracting the widest audience possible, was an idealist who believed that widespread knowledge of the law would help create a more just society. This is also evident in his other publications, such as the Treatise of Laws (1721), The Common Law Common-Placed (1726) and Every Man His Own Lawyer (1736). OCLC locates 10 copies in North American law libraries. English Short-Title Catalogue T137004.