The Law of Obligations and Conditions

by Thomas Ashe

Thomas Ashe (c.1556–1618) was an English lawyer and legal writer, admitted to Gray's Inn in 1574. 2. He was called to the bar on January 24, 1583 and was raised to the status of Ancient of the Inn in 1589. 3. In 1588 his first work, A Table to the Reports of Sir James Dyer, was published, and was successful enough to be reprinted in 1600 and 1622. This was followed by “an Abridgement of Edmund Plowden's Commentaries” (1597?; repr., 1607). In 1605 he published a table to the first five volumes of Edward Coke's Reports, dedicated to Coke. This volume was subsequently expanded to cover the full eleven volumes of Coke's Reports published in his lifetime (1618; repr., 1652). 4. Ashe then used Coke’s Reports to produce “Fasciculus florum, or, A handfull of flowers gathered out of the severall bookes of the Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Coke” (1617). From these books and other reports, Ashe also compiled a collection of cases in which laws had been extended by equitable interpretation, organizing these and publishing them in 1609 under the title “Epieikeia.” 5. Five years later, in 1614, he described himself as ‘Professor’ of the law on the title page to his most popular work, “Le primer (second) volume del Promptuarie.” 3. This was an analytical index to the yearbooks, and was well received by the legal profession. 1. Ashe retained his connections with Gray's Inn throughout his life, as legal writing did not pay as well as legal practice. 1. He was given an entitlement to free commons at the inn in 1614 while overseeing the production of his Promptuarie, and in 1617 he was granted an annual pension of £5 on account of his indigence. 6. He died at Gray's Inn in 1618, seemingly without any family. His administration, dated 20 October, valued his estate at £5 10s., but noted him as a ‘pauper’. 7. ‘The law of obligations and conditions, or, An accurate treatise, wherein is contained the whole learning of the law concerning bills, bonds, conditions, statutes, recognizances, and defeasances... : to which is added a table of references to all the declarations and pleadings upon bonds, &c. now extant : also another table to the forms of special conditions which lie scattered in our president [sic] books ... : with an index of the principal matters therein contained,’ published 1693, is accredited to Ashe. Inside the book, he printed only “T.A. of Grays-Inn, Esq.” as author. 8.

Bibliographic Information

Author: Thomas Ashe.

Title: The Law of Obligations and Conditions, or, an Accurate Treatise, Wherein Is Contained the Whole Learning of the Law Concerning Bills, Bonds, Conditions, Statutes, Recognizances, and Defeasances...: to Which Is Added a Table of References to All the Declarations and Pleadings Upon Bonds, &c. Now Extant: Also Another Table to the Forms of Special Conditions Which Lie Scattered In Our President [sic] Books...: With an Index of the Principal Matters Therein Contained.

Publication Info: London: Printed for J. Walthoe, 1693.

Edition: .