Reports of Special Cases Argued and Decreed in the Court of Chancery

by William Nelson

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.

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:

Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy

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