Treatise of Testaments and Last Wills

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by Henry Swinburne

Henry Swinburne (1521-1624) was an ecclesiastical lawyer in England, known for his two great publications, A Briefe Treatise of Testaments and Last Wills and A Treatise of Spousals, or Matrimonial Contracts. Hoping to reach a broader audience, he was the first ecclesiastical lawyer to write his works in English.[1] A Treatise of Testaments and Last Wills was used as the standard text on family law for 200 years.[2] Swinburne believed that there were too many disjointed books on the subject, making it very difficult to study. With his volume he hoped to replace hundreds of titles and allow for more clarity and deeper study.[3]

Bibliographic Information

Author: Henry Swinburne.

Title: A Treatise of Testaments and Last Wills: Compiled out of the Laws Ecclesiastical, Civil, and Canon, as also out of the Common Law, Customs and Statutes of This Realm.

Published: London, In the Savoy: Printed by Henry Lintot (assignee of Edw. Sayer, esq.) and sold by S. Birt, 1743.

Edition:

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

Listed in the Jefferson Inventory of Wythe's Library as Swinburne on wills. fol. and given by Thomas Jefferson to Dabney Carr. The precise edition owned by Wythe is unknown. Folio editions were published in 1728 and 1743.[4] George Wythe's Library[5] on LibraryThing indicates as much without choosing an edition. The Brown Bibliography[6] lists the 1728 edition in part based on the existence of that edition in Jefferson's library.

Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy

Recently rebound in red buckram; autographs: C.P. Sherman 1881; [J.R.] Tyson; [Greaves].

References

  1. ↑ Sheila Doyle, "Swinburne, Henry (c.1551–1624)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004- ), accessed October 13, 2013.
  2. ↑ Ibid.
  3. ↑ J. H. Baker, “Famous English Canon Lawyers: V,” Ecclesiastical Law Journal 3, no. 12 (1993): 5-9.
  4. ↑ English Short Title Catalog, http://estc.bl.uk, search of "Swinburne" and "Wills" reveals only two folio editions.
  5. ↑ LibraryThing, s. v. "Member: George Wythe," accessed on April 21, 2013, http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe
  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 ↑ Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file.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
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