The Reports of Edward Bulstrode

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by Edward Bulstrode

Bulstrode's Reports
BulstrodeReports1688.jpg

Title page from The Reports of Edward Bulstrode, George Wythe Collection, Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary.

Author Edward Bulstrode
Editor {{{editor}}}
Translator {{{trans}}}
Published London: Printed by W. Rawlins, S. Roycroft, and M. Flesher, assigns of Rich. and Edw. Atkyns esquires, for H. Twyford, T. Bassett, T. Dring
Date 1688
Edition Second
Language English
Volumes 3 parts in 1 volume set
Pages {{{pages}}}
Desc. Folio (33 cm.)
Location [[Shelf {{{shelf}}}]]
  [[Shelf {{{shelf2}}}]]

Edward Bulstrode (c.1588–1659) was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1606 but rose very slowly in the legal profession.[1] He was named an utter barrister in 1614 but did not become a bencher until 1629. In 1653, Bulstrode was appointed chief justice for north Wales. Bulstrode composed his reports in French then translated them into English before selecting "the fittest and choicest cases" for publication.[2] His volume covers King's Bench cases from 1609-1639 and apparently utililizes Plowden's methods–"there cannot be a stronger recommendation."[3] However, "Bulstrode's reputation as a reporter was not high."[4]

Bookplate, front pastedown.

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

Both Dean's Memo[5] and Brown's Bibliography[6] list the 2nd (1688) edition of this title based on entries in John Marshall's law notes.[7] The Wolf Law Library followed their suggestion and purchased the 2nd edition.

Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy

Bound in contemporary calf. Boards have tooled rules and stamps. Spine features five bands and a red morocco label with gilt lettering and decorative filigree. Includes the nineteenth-century armorial bookplate of the Earls of Macclesfield, Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire, England on the front pastedown.

View this book in William & Mary's online catalog.

References

  1. Wilfrid Prest, "Bulstrode, Edward (c.1588–1659)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2007, accessed 18 Sept 2013. (Subscription required for access.)
  2. J. G. Marvin, Legal Bibliography or a Thesaurus of American, English, Irish, and Scotch Law Books (Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson, Law Booksellers, 1847), 158-159.
  3. Richard Whalley Bridgman, ‘’A Short View of Legal Bibliography: Containing Some Critical Observations on the Authority of the Reporters and Other Law Writers’’ (London: Printed for W. Reed, 1807), 42.
  4. John William Wallace, The Reporters, Arranged and Characterized with Incidental Remarks, 4th ed., rev. and enl. (Boston: Soule and Bugbee, 1882), 246.
  5. Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean, Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 7 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).
  6. 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
  7. The Papers of John Marshall, eds. Herbert A. Johnson, Charles T. Cullen, and Nancy G. Harris (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, in association with the Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1974), 1:42.