The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England
The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England: Concerning High Treason, and Other Pleas of the Crown, and Criminall Causes
by Sir Edward Coke
Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England | |
Title page from Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England, George Wythe Collection, Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary. | |
Author | Sir Edward Coke |
Published | London: Printed by M. Flesher, for W. Lee, and D. Pakeman |
Date | 1644 |
Edition | First |
Language | English |
Pages | [7], 243, [18] |
Desc. | Folio (29 cm.) |
The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England focuses on the criminal law of England. Coke transferred his experience as attorney general and judge into the third part of the Institutes by focusing on treason, misprision of treason, and heresy much more than homicide, rape, robbery, and similar crimes. Coke had personally tried several famous treason and libel cases as the Attorney General, such as the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and thus his focus in is largely based on his experiences.[7] In general, Coke’s Institutes are widely considered to have been enormously influential in the United States, especially with regard to the construction of the Third and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution. The Institutes have been cited in over 70 cases decided by the Supreme Court of the Unites States.[8]
Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library
Listed with the other parts of Coke's Institutes in the Jefferson Inventory of Wythe's Library as Coke’s Institutes. 3.v. fol. This was one of the sets kept by Thomas Jefferson. He may have sold to the Library of Congress in 1815. Three of the George Wythe Collection sources (Goodwin's pamphlet[9], the Brown Bibliography[10] and George Wythe's Library[11] on LibraryThing) include the fourth (1670) edition of The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England, based on Millicent Sowerby's entry in Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson.[12] Jefferson's copy still exists with the third and fourth parts bound together. It contains manuscript notes not in his hand, but those notes have not been linked to Wythe nor are there any other indications that the volume once belonged to Wythe. Dean's Memo[13] lists the first (1644) edition of The Third Part based on notes in Jefferson's commonplace book.[14] The Wolf Law Library followed Dean's recommendation and purchased a copy of the first edition.
Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy
Rebound in period-style full blind calf. Includes previous owner's inscriptions on front flyleaf "my hoyle" (multiple times) and "go lovely maid, lay lovely maid Lovely, my lovely Mrs. Smith." Purchased from The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
View this book in William & Mary's online catalog.
References
- ↑ Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, s. v. “Sir Edward Coke,” accessed October 3, 2013, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/124844/Sir-Edward-Coke.
- ↑ Allen D. Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward (1552–1634)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2009, accessed 18 Sept 2013.
- ↑ Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Bill of Rights Institute website, s.v. "Petition of Right (1628)", accessed Oct. 3, 2013 http://billofrightsinstitute.org/resources/educator-resources/americapedia/americapedia-documents/petition-of-right/.
- ↑ Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."
- ↑ Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, s.v. “Sir Edward Coke.”
- ↑ LexisNexis search performed May 1, 2008.
- ↑ Mary R. M. Goodwin, The George Wythe House: Its Furniture and Furnishings (Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, 1958), XLVI.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ LibraryThing, s. v. "Member: George Wythe", accessed on March 12, 2014.
- ↑ E. Millicent Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:219 [no. 1784].
- ↑ Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean, Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 10 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).
- ↑ The Commonplace Book of Thomas Jefferson: A Repertory of His Ideas on Government, ed. Gilbert Chinard (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1926), 14.