The Conductor Generalis: Or the Office, Duty and Authority of..

1788. New York: Hugh Gaine, 1788. New York: Hugh Gaine, 1788. Conductor Generalis Printed by Hugh Gaine, 1788 [Van Schaack, Peter (1747-1832), Editor]. Parker, James [1714-1770]. The Conductor Generalis: Or, the Office, Duty and Authority of Justices of the Peace, High-Sheriffs, Under-Sheriffs, Coroners, Constables, Gaolers, Jury-Men, and Overseers of the Poor. As Also the Office of Clerks of Assize, and of the Peace, &c. Compiled Chiefly from Burn's Justice, and the Several Other Books on Those Subjects, by James Parker, Late One of the Justices of the Peace for Middlesex County, in New-Jersey; and Now Revised and Adapted to the United States of America. By a Gentleman of the Law. The Whole Alphabetically Digested Under the Several Titles; With a Table Directing to the Ready Finding Out the Proper Matter Under Those Titles. To Which are Added, (Above What is in Any Other Edition of the Work,) the Act Called the Ten Pound Act, And the Militia Law of the State of New-York. New York: Printed by Hugh Gaine, and sold at his Book-Store at the Bible in Hanover-Square, 1788. xv, [1], 461, [1] pp. Octavo (8" x 4-3/4"). Contemporary sheep, blind fillets, lettering piece and later shelf label to spine. Light rubbing and scuffing to boards, which are separated but secured by cords, moderate rubbing to extremities, chipping to spine ends, brief early annotation (shelf mark?) to front pastedown. Light toning to interior, occasional light foxing, partial crack in text block between pp. 288-289, all leaves secure, upper corners of a few leaves folded. $500. * A popular American legal manual issued by different printers and publishers largely based on English sources, primarily Burn. The first edition by Parker appeared in 1764. Two editions appeared in 1788, one printed by John Patterson and the other by Hugh Gaine. The present edition, printed by Hugh Gaine, was edited by eminent colonial lawyer Peter Van Schaack and was the first to include the Ten Pound Act and New York's militia law. Both 1788 editions are significant because they were the first published after the ratification of the Constitution and "adapted to the United States of America." Evans, American Bibliography 21358. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 7960.