The Reports of Sir Bartholomew Shower

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by Sir Bartholomew Shower

Sir Bartholomew Shower (1658–1701) was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1676 and called to the bar in 1680. In 1688, he was first named king's counsel, then later the same year, appointed to the bench.[1] In 1698, Shower was chosen as one of Exeter's members for Parliament and he shortly became a dominant tory voice in the Commons. Shower's King's Bench reports derive from his manuscript notes but were published posthumously. "It is probable that these Cases were printed from the 'foul copy' of the Reporter" and were not the finished product Shower meant to publish.[2] As a result, the first two editions of the reports have been widely criticized.[3] However, a third edition published in 1836 and based on a manuscript in the Lansdowne collection has a more favorable reputation and appears to represent the collection Shower originally intended to print.[4]

Bibliographic Information

Author: Sir Bartholomew Shower.

Title: The Reports of Sir Bartholomew Shower, Knt. of Cases Adjudg'd in the Court of King's Bench, in the Reign of His Late Majesty King William III.

Publication Info: London: Printed by the assigns of Richard and Edward Atkins, Esqs; for Danial Borwne and J. Walthoe, 1708-20.

Edition: First edition; 2 volumes.

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy

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

References

  1. Robert J. Frankle, "Shower, Sir Bartholomew (1658–1701)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 22 Sept 2013. (Subscription required for access.) Subsequent biographical information also derives from this article unless otherwise noted.
  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), 646.
  3. Robert J. Frankle, "Shower, Sir Bartholomew."
  4. John William Wallace, The Reporters, Arranged and Characterized with Incidental Remarks, 4th ed., rev. and enl. (Boston: Soule and Bugbee, 1882), 392-393.