THE CASE, TREVETT AGAINST WEEDEN: ON INFORMATION AND COMPLAINT, FOR REFUSING PAPER BILLS IN PAYMENT FOR BUTCHER'S MEAT, IN MARKET, AT PAR WITH SPECIE. TRIED BEFORE THE HONOURABLE SUPERIOR COURT, IN THE COUNTY OF NEWPORT, SEPTEMBER TERM, 1786...

Providence: John Carte, 1787. iv,60pp. Quarto. Contemporary plain wrappers. Front wrapper detached, spine perished. Moderate foxing and toning. Minor chipping at top edge, particularly affecting titlepage. Upper outer corner gnawed throughout. About good. In a half morocco box. First edition of this landmark in the establishment of the doctrine of judicial review, written by the presiding justice. A clear, concise argument for the judiciary's right to reject legislation that violated the provisions of the new Constitution, and for the power of the judiciary in the realm of political authority. The plaintiff offered paper money, issued by an act of the General Assembly of Rhode Island, for the purchase of meat from the defendant, a butcher. The money was refused and the butcher lodged a complaint. The court ruled in favor of the defendant. The present case is considered the most important of the number of colonial cases regarding judicial review, due to its publication as a separate work and the high degree of advertisement and publicity it received at the time of the Convention. Varnum's influence on John Marshall's statement in Marbury v. Madison, seventeen years later, is apparent. Madison noted it in the debates, and Warren supported the ruling. Varnum later became the justice for the new Northwest Territory and participated in drafting its laws. ALDEN 1105. EVANS 20825. SABIN 98638. KRESS B1355. JCB (3)I:3167. REESE, FEDERAL HUNDRED 15.