L'Authoritie et Iurisdiction [Jurisdiction] des Courts de la Maiestie by Crompton, Richard - 1594

1594. London, 1594. Beale T328. London, 1594. Beale T328. First Edition of Crompton's Survey of the Courts with an Interesting Association [Crompton, Richard (d. 1599)]. L'Authoritie et Iurisdiction des Courts de la Maiestie de la Roygne: Nouelment Collect & Compose, Per R. Crompton del Milieu Temple Esquire, Apprentice del Ley. Si Seuris Index, Mitisis Corde Memento, Dicito, quae Possunt Dicta Decere Senem. London: In Aedibus Caroli Yetsweirti, 1594. [iv], 232 ff. Quarto (7-1/4" x 5-1/4"). Contemporary calf, rebacked and recornered in period style, blind rules to boards, raised bands, blind fillets and lettering piece to spine, hinges mended. Moderate rubbing to boards and board edges, later armorial bookplate to front pastedown. Moderate toning to text, somewhat heavier in places, some soiling and edgewear to endleaves, early and somewhat later markings and brief annotations to endleaves and a few text leaves, tiny owner signature to head of title page, gift inscription from Edward Edlyne Tomlins (to George Dacre) to verso of front free endpaper, which has a repair to its upper corner. $1,500. * First edition. L'Authoritie et Iurisdiction is drawn from the Year Books and other cases applicable to the subject. Turning to William Fulbecke's A Direction or Preparative to the Study of the Lawe (1600), we see that its value was recognized almost immediately: "Master Crompton has taken great paynes in this study, and his books are in every man's hands, which prooveth their generall allowance, his cases are very profitable, and apt for the title to which they are applyed, and so compendiously collected, that a man may by them in a few howers gaine great knowledge" (cited in Holdsworth). On a broader scale, Crompton offers legal justification for the creation of a rigidly hierarchical "natural" society governed by a powerful monarch. This attitude, articulated by Bodin among others, was shared by several conservatives in England and Europe during the Late Renaissance. Tomlins [1761-1841] was a notable legal writer, lexicographer and editor of Jacobs's Law-Dictionary. Holdsworth, History of English Law IV:212. English Short-Title Catalogue S109077. Beale, A Bibliography of Early English Law Books T328.