Page 17 - Delaware Lawyer -Spring 2021

Also in the Sussex library are sev- en volumes of reports by William Johnson from the New York Court of Chancery, printed in that state in 1816–1824, which bear the signature of Peter Robinson. There is also an 1810 volume of reports of cases decid- ed by the Supreme Court of Vermont.
All told, the Sussex library contains 25 collections of case reports, most with multi-volumes. They predomi- nantly cover British courts of the era: Kings Bench, Common Pleas, High Court of Chancery, Exchequer, and Nisi Prius.26
A listing of both British and American reports contained in the library is available at www.delaware barfoundation.org/delaware-lawyer- publication.
Legal Encyclopedias:
The collecting and reporting of cases facilitated the development of learned treatises on various aspects of the law, as well as what may be called legal encyclopedias, with their handy summaries of the law and decisions.
In the Sussex collection, the most prominent example of a legal encyclo- pedia from the 18th century is Viner’s Abridgement, formally A General Abridgement of Law & Equity. Today’s Wikipedia aptly describes the Abridge- ment as a “vast encyclopedia of legal lore.” It was compiled by one Charles Viner, who is said to have worked 50 years on the project.27 The 23 volumes of the Abridgement were originally printed between 1742 and 1753; the Sussex set is the second edition of 1791–94 and contains 22 of the edi- tion’s volumes. According to Marvin, the Abridgement was “the most volu- minous production of any single in- dividual in the whole bibliography of the Common Law.” However, it was soundly panned by Mr. Justice Story of the United States Supreme Court, who called it “a cumbersome compila- tion by no means accurate, incomplete
The library contains more than 160 volumes, including case reports, treatises, practice manuals and more.
in its citations, difficult to use.”28 So much for 50 years of work! Neverthe- less, it proved a popular and handy ref- erence work for the practicing bar for many years.
It is tempting to include Black- stone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England as an encyclopedic treatment of the law since there was probably no legal work as influential in early Amer- ica as the Commentaries. Friedman, in his study of American law, asserts that “Blackstone’s text became ubiq- uitous on the American legal scene.”29 However, Blackstone did not appear in the Sussex collection until 1838, when John Houston purchased the eighth edition of the work, with “cor- rections, notes, and additions” by Ed- ward Christian and an analysis by John Archbold.30 However, it is difficult to imagine that the Commentaries were not readily available to the Sussex law- yers of an earlier period, so it is prob- able that Wilson’s copy, in the familiar way of widely used legal materials, was simply borrowed and not returned.31 Despite the early absence of Black- stone, the Sussex library does contain a 1793 digest of the Laws of England, in six volumes, which was the work of John Comyn.
A listing of the encyclopedias and
information about them is available at www.delawarebarfoundation.org/ delaware-lawyer-publication.
Legal Treatises:
The Sussex collection also contains numerous treatises. One of the earli- est books in the collection is Malloy on Maritime Rights, or more formally, De Jure Maritime et Navali or a Trea- tise of Affairs Maritime & of Com- merce. Charles Malloy, who was Irish, lived from 1640–1690.32 His treatise is considered the standard work on maritime law for its era. The Sussex volume, an eighth edition of Malloy, was published in 1744 in London and is indicative of the maritime interests in Sussex County in the 1700s. In- terestingly, this book was owned by Simon Kollock, whose signature ap- pears in the volume. It is likely that Kollock, who was a justice of the peace in Sussex and also served as the County’s High Sheriff, was often called upon to decide disputes involv- ing maritime commerce.
There are also several books by John Joseph Powell, a prolific and well-re- spected author. Powell’s 1790 essay on contract law is considered the first trea- tise on the whole of contract law.33 It became part of James Patriot Wilson’s
SPRING 2021 DELAWARE LAWYER 15
JASON MINTO