Henrici de Bracton De legibus & consuetudinibus Angliæ libri quinq; in varios tractatus distincti, ad diuersorum et vetustissimorum codicum collationem, ingenti cura, nunc prim typis vulgati: quorum quid cuiq; insit, proxima pagina demonstrabit Hardcover - 1569

London: Richard Tottel, 1569. Hardcover. Good +. 16 leaves, 444 [442] leaves, complete. Leaves 173-174 omitted in the numbering, 362 numbered 360, 439 numbered 437. 29 cm. Engraved decorative initials. Bound in half brown leather with brown cloth. Lower corners bumped. Small mark on upper spine. Bookplate, notation, and stain on newer front pastedown, cut to reveal notation on original pastedown below. Bookplate for Nathaniel Lindley on front pastedown and ink signature of Lindley, 1849, on a front leaf. Signature of E. Bunney, Inner Temple, at top of title page. Small ink notations or marks on 13 pages near beginning. Last page of text dampstained and a little loose. Mark on inner margin of leaf 382. Small tear in bottom of one front index page.

A first edition of the first modern treatise of English law, its title translating to "The Laws and Customs of England." Preface by T.N. whose identity has never been discovered. Henry of Bracton composed the De Legibus between 1250 and 1256. He based his book on the cases decided by the great medieval English judges, as well as his own twenty-year experience as a "justice itinerant." He combined legal theory with its practical application in the common law courts and his principles have determined the whole development of English law, which is distinguished for its use of precedents. Latin text.
Publisher Richard Tottel (d. 1594) was the leading English publisher of law books in the second half of the sixteenth century. King Edward VI granted him a privilege for "all and all manner books of our temporal laws" in 1553 and Tottel was one of the original members of the Stationers' Company when it received its charter in 1557. Note the signature of Nathaniel Lindley (1828-1921), an English judge of later times. In 1855 he published "An Introduction to the Study of Jurisprudence", consisting of a translation of the general part of Thibaut's "System des Pandekten Rechts," with notes. In 1900 he became a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary with a life peerage and the title of Baron Lindley. The title page bears the signature of E. Bunney, Inner Temple, possibly a British baronet and politician later known as Sir Edmund Cradock-Hartopp (1749-1833). Latin text. PMM 89. STC 3475.