Difference between revisions of "Reports of Special Cases Argued and Decreed in the Court of Chancery"

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===by William Nelson===
 
===by William Nelson===
 
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<blockquote> 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. <ref> N. G. Jones, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/19887 ‘Nelson, William (b. 1652/3)’], Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 27 June 2013.</ref> </blockquote>
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William Nelson (b. 1652/3) was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1673 and was called the bar in 1684.<ref>N. G. Jones, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/19887 "Nelson, William (b. 1652/3)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 27 June 2013. (Subscription required for access.)</ref> "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."<ref>Ibid.</ref>  He published ''Reports of Special Cases in the Court of Chancery'' in 1717 which he "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."<ref>Ibid. See also John William Wallace, ''The Reporters, Arranged and Characterized with Incidental Remarks'', 4th ed., rev. and enl., (Boston: Soule and Bugbee, 1882), 480.</ref>  
  
 
==Bibliographic Information==
 
==Bibliographic Information==
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'''Author:''' William Nelson
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'''Author:''' William Nelson.
  
 
'''Title:''' ''Reports of Special Cases Argued and Decreed in the Court of Chancery, in the Reigns of King Charles I., King Charles II. and King William III''.
 
'''Title:''' ''Reports of Special Cases Argued and Decreed in the Court of Chancery, in the Reigns of King Charles I., King Charles II. and King William III''.
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'''Edition:''' First edition.
 
'''Edition:''' First edition.
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'''Extent:''' 230 pages.
  
 
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==
 
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==

Revision as of 20:52, 8 September 2013

by William Nelson

William Nelson (b. 1652/3) was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1673 and was called the bar in 1684.[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."[2] He published Reports of Special Cases in the Court of Chancery in 1717 which he "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."[3]

Bibliographic Information

Author: William Nelson.

Title: Reports of Special Cases Argued and Decreed in the Court of Chancery, in the Reigns of King Charles I., King Charles II. and King William III.

Publication Info: London, In the Savoy: Printed by Eliz. Nutt, and R. Gosling (assignees of E. Sayer) for B. Lintott, 1717.

Edition: First edition.

Extent: 230 pages.

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

Listed in the Jefferson Inventory of Wythe's Library as Nelson's Chancery reports 8[vo.] and given by Thomas Jefferson to Dabney Carr. According to Soule, the first edition was the only edition available in Wythe's lifetime.[4] Accordingly, both the Brown Bibliography[5] and George Wythe's Library[6] on LibraryThing list the 1717 (first) edition.

Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy

Rebound in tan buckram with autographs on the titlepage of "Bordley" and "R.W. Hughes."

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

References

  1. ↑ N. G. Jones, "Nelson, William (b. 1652/3)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 27 June 2013. (Subscription required for access.)
  2. ↑ Ibid.
  3. ↑ Ibid. See also John William Wallace, The Reporters, Arranged and Characterized with Incidental Remarks, 4th ed., rev. and enl., (Boston: Soule and Bugbee, 1882), 480.
  4. ↑ Charles C. Soule, The Lawyer's Reference Manual of Law Books and Citations (Boston: Soule and Bugbee, 1833), 77n6. The second edition was published in 1872.
  5. ↑ 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
  6. ↑ LibraryThing, s. v. "Member: George Wythe," accessed on April 21, 2013, http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe
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