View source for History of the Pleas of the Crown

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The History of the Pleas of the Crown''}}
===by Sir Matthew Hale===
__NOTOC__
{{BookPageInfoBox
|imagename=HaleHistoryOfPleasOfCrown1736.jpg
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/140797
|shorttitle=Historia Placitorum Coronæ: The History of the Pleas of the Crown
|commontitle=The History of the Pleas of the Crown
|vol=volume two
|author=Sir Matthew Hale
|edition=First
|lang=English
|publoc=London
|publisher=In the Savoy: Printed by E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling for F. Gyles
|year=1736
|set=2
|desc=Folio (32 cm.)
}}[[File:HaleHistoriaPlacitorumCoronae1736v1Frontispiece.jpg|left|thumb|300px|<center>Frontispiece, volume one.</center>]][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Hale_(jurist) Sir Matthew Hale] (1609- 1676) attended [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%27s_Inn Lincoln’s Inn] to study the law in the footsteps of his father, who had died when Hale was a very young age.<ref>A. Cromartie, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/11905 Hale, Sir Mathew (b.c 1609 d. in 1676)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004- ), accessed October 9, 2013.</ref> While studying at Lincoln’s Inn, Hale became very close with the attorney general, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Noy William Noy] (d. 1634).<ref>H. Flander, “Sir Matthew Hale,” ''University of Pennsylvania Law Review and American Law Register'' 56 (1908), 6.</ref> Noy is believed to have helped shape Hale’s love for medieval transcripts.<ref>Ibid.</ref> This would later lead to Hale’s work on a large amount of legal literature. Hale entered the bar in 1636 after the normal seven years of schooling.<ref>Cromartie, “Hale, Sir Mathew."</ref> In 1671, Sir Matthew Hale became the chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28England%29 Court of King’s Bench], a well-deserved role considering the amount of writing he was doing on criminal law as well as the common law.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
''Historia Placitorum Coronæ'', ''The History of the Pleas of the Crown'', is a three-volume work on criminal law that was never completed.<ref>W. S. Holdsworth, “Sir Matthew Hale,” ''Law Quarterly Review'' 39 (1923), 419.</ref> In Hale's plan, the first volume would cover capital offenses and then further split between treasons and felonies; the second volume would consist of non-capital offenses; finally, the third volume would deal with franchises and liberties.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Unfortunately only the first volume was completed, but it was considered almost perfect with many of Hale’s edits complete.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The book was ordered to be published by the House of Commons in 1680 but the first edition only appeared in 1736.<ref>Ibid, 420.</ref> It became "the main authority on English criminal law for a century thereafter" and "provides the structure of Blackstone's ''Commentaries''."<ref>Cromartie, "Hale, Sir Mathew."</ref> 

==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==
Wythe definitely owned a copy of the two-volume 1736 edition of Hale's ''The History of the Pleas of the Crown''. A copy at the University of Virginia ncludes [[George Wythe's bookplate|his bookplate]] and an inscription on the inside front board, "Given by Thos. Jefferson to D. Carr, 1806." Not surprisingly, it is also listed in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''Hale's P.C. 2.v. fol.'', given by [[Thomas Jefferson]] to [[Dabney Carr]]. Three of the [[George Wythe Collection|Wythe Collection]] sources (Dean's Memo<ref>Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean, Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 4 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref>, Brown's Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433</ref> and [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on June 28, 2013,  </ref> on LibraryThing) list first edition of ''The History of the Pleas of the Crown''. The Wolf Law Library moved a copy of the same edition from the general rare books collection to the [[George Wythe Collection]].

==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==
Bound in contemporary blind-tooled calf, rebacked in period style with five raised bands and red title label. 

View the record for this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/140797 William & Mary's online catalog.]
==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Criminal Law]]
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]
[[Category:Known Surviving Wythe Volumes]]
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]