Style's Practical Register: Begun in the Reign of King Charles I Consisting of Rules, Orders, and the Principal Observations Concerning the Practice of The Common Law in the Courts at Westminster: Particularly the King's Bench, as Well in Matters Criminal as Civil
by William Style
| Style's Practical Register | |
 Title page from Style's Practical Register, George Wythe Collection, Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary. | |
| Author | William Style |
| Published | London: Printed for C. Harper, D. Brown, J. Walthoe and D. Midwinter |
| Date | 1707 |
| Edition | Fourth, with large additions |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 682 |
| Desc. | 8vo (20 cm.) |
| Location | Shelf F-4 |
William Style (c.1599–1679) was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1619, and was called to the bar in 1628. He does not appear to have been an overly successful lawyer and is better remembered for his legal publications.[1] His Practical Register, first published in 1657, "groups the rules of practice, together with a little information as to the substantive law, under alphabetical heads."[2] It "was a useful guide to modern practice decisions"[3] and was reprinted multiple times.
Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library
Both Dean's Memo[4] and the Brown Bibliography[5] include William Style's Practical Register based on Alan Smith's assertion that Jefferson cites the work in his commonplace book.[6] Dean lists the 1657 edition while Brown suggests the fourth edition (1707) based on the copy Thomas Jefferson sold to the Library of Congress in 1815.[7] Notably, Brown's study of Jefferson's commonplace books revealed no references to the Style's Practical Register, making its inclusion in Wythe's Library questionable. Despite the inconclusive evidence, the Wolf Law Library added a copy of the fourth edition to the George Wythe Collection.
Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy
Bound with later calf retaining original boards, raised bands, gilt title and date on spine. Includes signature, "Wm. Cumming" and annotations to preliminaries. Purchased from The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
Images of the library's copy of this book are available on Flickr. View the record for this book in William & Mary's online catalog.
See also
- George Wythe Room
- Narrationes Modernae, or, Modern Reports Begun in the Now Upper Bench Court at Westminster
- Wythe's Library
References
- ↑ J. H. Baker, "Style, William (c.1599–1679)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, accessed May 30, 2013.
- ↑ W. S. Holdsworth, A History of English Law (London: Methuen & Co., Sweet and Maxwell, 1924), 6:598.
- ↑ Baker, "Style, William."
- ↑ Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean, Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 15 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Alan McKinley Smith, "Virginia Lawyers, 1680-1776: The Birth of an American Profession" (PhD diss., The Johns Hopkins University, 1967), 263.
- ↑ E. Millicent Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, (Washington, D.C.: The Library of Congress, 1952-1959), 2:282 [no.1914].
