The Analysis of the Law, Being a Scheme, Or Abstract, Of the Several.

1716. London: Printed for John Walthoe, 1716. 2nd ed. London: Printed for John Walthoe, 1716. 2nd ed. Praised by Blackstone and Holdsworth Hale, Sir Matthew [1609-1676]. The Analysis of the Law: Being a Scheme, Or Abstract, Of the Several Titles and Partitions of the Law of England, Digested into Method. Corrected, With the Addition of an Alphabetical Table. [London]: Printed for John Walthoe, 1716. [xiv], 148, [28] pp. With three final pages of publisher advertisements, advertisement leaf preceding title page lacking. Octavo (7-1/2" x 4-3/4"). Recent quarter calf over cloth, endpapers renewed. Negligible light rubbing to extremities, recent owner bookplate (of J.M.B. Crawford) to front pastedown, owner name (Crawford) to verso of title page. Light toning to text, light soiling to title page, verso of final leaf, and margins of a few other leaves. $400. * Second edition, one of two issues from 1716. This title was originally the second part of Hale's History and Analysis of the Common Law of England (1713). It was then published separately in 1713 and went through several later editions as an independent work. (Its third edition was also issued with the third edition of the History). Blackstone's Commentaries holds the Analysis and History in high regard; Holdsworth, speaking of Hale's scholarship, praises his "very wide knowledge of both the legal and historical literature," "historical perspective" and "complete mastery of the law of his own day," which "enables him to detect the remote origins of the important doctrines of later law, to give the history of those doctrines their due weight, and thus, even when dealing with remote periods, to avoid unprofitable antiquarianism.": History of English Law VI:586-587. English Short-Title Catalogue N14895.