Elements of Jurisprudence, Treated of in the Preliminary Part of a..

1783. London, 1783. First & only London ed.. London, 1783. First & only London ed. "The Complement of Sir W. Blackstone's Commentaries" Wooddeson, Richard [1745-1822]. Elements of Jurisprudence, Treated of in the Preliminary Part of a Course of Lectures on the Laws of England. London: Printed for T. Payne and Son, 1783. [iv], 118 pp. Quarto (10-1/2" x 8-1/2"). Contemporary calf, rebacked in period style, blind fillets to boards, blind fillets and retained contemporary lettering piece to spine. Some rubbing to extremities, corners bumped and somewhat worn. Two early armorial bookplates (of Henry C. Compton Esq. Manor House, Lyndhurst, and Scrope Berdmore, S.T.P. Coll. Mert. Custos, 1790) to front pastedown. Offsetting to endleaves, interior otherwise fresh. A nice copy. $1,500. * First edition. Wooddeson was elected a Vinerian Scholar in 1766, became a Vinerian Fellow in 1776 and was Vinerian Professor from 1777 to 1793. He was steeped in Blackstone's work, and he strove to supplement it. "Dr. Wooddeson's Lectures form, in a measure, the complement of Sir W. Blackstone's Commentaries, for he supplies some deficiencies in the production of his predecessor, and treats more in detail, some topics, but slightly noticed by him. Though of acknowledged merit, as to learning, method of arrangement, and accuracy of rules, they do not seem to have attained so great a reputation as their real worth entitles them to. In point of style, and beauty of narration, they follow the Commentaries, haud non passibus aequis" (Marvin). Holdsworth describes each chapter in detail and calls this work a very useful book on legal theory. This book had a second edition published in Dublin in 1792. Scrope Berdmore [1744-1814], one of the former owners of our copy, was an administrator at the University of Oxford, serving as warden of Merton College and the vice-chancellor of the university. He likely passed this book on to Henry Combe Compton [1789-1866], an MP for South Hampshire whose father had been a close associate of Berdmore's. Marvin, Legal Bibliography 745. Holdsworth, A History of English Law XII:428f. English Short-Title Catalogue T32600.