Difference between revisions of "Reports or Causes in Chancery"

Revision as of 13:18, 2 March 2015

Reports of Causes in Chancery, collected by Sir George Cary one of the Masters of the Chancery in Anno 1601

by George Carew

Carew's Reports
Title not held by The Wolf Law Library at the College of William & Mary.
Author	George Carew
Editor
Translator
Published	London: Printed by E.G. for W. Lee [and 2 others]
Date	1650
Edition	First
Language	English
Volumes	volume set
Pages
Desc.

Sir George Carew (c.1556–1612), also known as Sir George Cary, administrator and diplomat, was probably born at Antony, Cornwall, the second son of Thomas and Elizabeth Carew (c.1527–1564). His brother was Richard Carew, historian. In 1577, after university, presumably Oxford, George Carew entered the Middle Temple, before sitting in the first of seven consecutive parliaments. He served for St. Germans in 1584–5, 1597–8, 1601, and 1604–10; and for Saltash in 1586–7, 1589, and 1593. In 1588 he married Thomasine (d. c.1635), daughter of Sir Francis Godolphin.^[1] Carew became Lord Chancellor Hatton's secretary in spring 1587, and retained the post under Sir John Puckering and Sir Thomas Egerton. He often went by "George Carew of the Chancery." He became Master of the Chancery on December 21, 1599. With his uncle, Sir Matthew Carew, he was one of Egerton's agents in administrative reconstruction. Another was William Lambarde, whose notes Carew compiled. This work greatly helped to establish chancery precedents.^[2] Reports or Causes in Chancery, Lambarde’s notes compiled by Carew, was published in 1650. He is cited in the book as "Sir George Cary, one of the masters of the chancery."^[3]

The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible inequity of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the administration of the estates of the insane, and the guardianship of infants. The Court of Chancery could apply a far wider range of remedies than the common law courts, such as specific performance and injunctions, in addition to awarding damages in special circumstances.^[4] Reports or Causes in Chancery is a case reporter commissioned by the king for the Court of Chancery. ^[5] The cases listed are from 1557-1604, and are listed in alphabetical order. William Lambarde's (cited as Lambert) case notes are in the margins throughout the book.^[6] Over four-fifths of the collection of cases consists of a chronological excerpt from the official entry books up to the year 1584. Choyce Cases in Chancery, printed at the end of The Practice of the High Court of Chancery Unfolded (London, 1652), consists of those cases that had been omitted in Reports or Causes in Chancery, from two years before. Carew was unable to devote resources to the compilation himself for some time near the end of his life. He was sent to be the ambassador to Poland in 1597 and the ambassador of France from 1605-09. ^[7]

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

Listed in the Jefferson Inventory of Wythe's Library as "Carey's reports in Chancery 16s." This was one of the titles kept by Thomas Jefferson. He later sold a copy of the first edition (1650) to the Library of Congress in 1815. Both the Brown Bibliography^[8] and George Wythe's Library^[9] on LibraryThing include this edition based on Millicent Sowerby's entry in Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson.^[10] This volume still exists and may have been Wythe's copy, but the book includes no markings to verify Wythe's ownership.

As yet, the Wolf Law Library has been unable to procure a copy of Reports of Causes in Chancery.

References

1. ↑ W.J. Jones, Carew, Sir George (London: Oxford University Press, 2004), accessed February 28, 2010, http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=4627&back=,4639,4632.
2. ↑ Paul Hunneyball, "CAREW, Sir George II (c.1560-1612)," in Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, ed., The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), accessed March 2, 2015, http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/carew-sir-george-ii-1560-1612.
3. ↑ Sir George Carew and William Lambarde, Reports or Causes in Chancery (London, 1650), https://books.google.com/books?id=TOTSMgEACAAJ&dq=lambarde+reports,+or+causes+in+chancery.
4. ↑ Carne, William L. A Sketch of the History of the High Court of Chancery from Its Origin to the Chancellorship of Wolsey. The Virginia Law Register, 1927. http://www.worldcat.org/title/virginia-law-register/oclc/1607067 ATTN: LINDA!!! WORLDCAT URL.
5. ↑ Paul L. Ward, William Lambarde’s Collections on Chancery (Cambridge: Harvard University Library, 1953) 271-298, http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/2573358?n=3193.
6. ↑ Sir George Carew and William Lambarde, Reports or Causes in Chancery.
7. ↑ Ward, William Lambarde’s Collections on Chancery, 271-298.
8. ↑ Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012, rev. 2014) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433
9. ↑ LibraryThing, s.v. "Member: George Wythe" accessed on January 21, 2015.
10. ↑ E. Millicent Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:200-201 [no.1741].