Lex Testamentaria
by William Nelson
In addition to treatises on evidence, game law and a notable JP manual, Nelson produced editions of Dalton's Countrey Justice, Blount's Nomo Lexicon and Manwood's Laws of the Forest. OCLC locates 6 copies of this imprint, 4 in North American law libraries. [1]
A successful practitioner in the court of chancery, Nelson's numerous literary works displayed considerable legal learning, but despite his low opinion of the writings of others, Nelson's own works were not invariably accurate or useful. In 1704 he published Office and Authority of a Justice of the Peace, a successful work including information on the duties of many other local government officials, which reached a twelfth edition in 1745 and no doubt drew upon Nelson's experience as chairman of the Sussex sessions. This was followed in 1709 by Rights of the Clergy of Great Britain, abridging the relevant law under alphabetical heads but seldom making clear statements of principle. In 1714 came the Lex testamentaria on the laws concerning last wills, which was followed in 1717 by the anonymous Law of Evidence and the Reports of Special Cases in the Court of Chancery. The former, one of the first works to be published on the English law of evidence, digested the cases without attempting to extract underlying principles. The latter claimed to be largely transcribed from the manuscript of a late attorney-general, and to contain reports most of which had never previously been printed or of points which had not previously been noticed, though several of the reports had already appeared in print elsewhere. [2]
Bibliographic Information
Author: William Nelson, (b.1652/3)
Title: Lex Testamentaria: Or, A Compendious System Of All The Laws Of England, As Well Before The Statute Of Henry VIII. As Since, Concerning Last Wills And Testaments : In Which Are Collected, All The Judgments And Resolutions Dispers'd In The Year-Books, And All Other Reports Both In Law And Equity, What Estates In Fee, In Tail, For Life Or Years, Have Been Created By Wills Either Expressly Or By Implication. Treating Also Of All Cases Concerning Executory Devices And Legacies. And Of All Actions, Pleas, And Judgments, By, For, Or Against Executors, Administrators, And Guardians : Very Necessary For All Who Are, Or May Be, Entitled To Any Estates By Virtue Of Any Will Or Administration, Or As Guardians To Infants : Collected In A More Plain, Easy, And Methodical Manner Than Hither To Hath Been Done In Any Treatise Of This Nature
Published: London, In the Savoy: Printed by E. and R. Gosling for Joell Stephens, 1728.
Edition:
Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library
Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy
Bound in contemporary calf with blind frames to boards, rebacked retaining spines with raised binds and lettering pieces and mended hinges. Contains signatures of early owner to the head of the title page. Purchased from The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
References
- ↑ Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth 1:493(26).
- ↑ N. G. Jones, ‘Nelson, William (b. 1652/3)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 11 June 2013
