LITTLETON'S TENURES In ENGLISH. Lately Perused and Amended de [Law]. [Littleton, Sir Thomas (1422 - 1481)] - 1600

London: Thomas Wight, 1600. 1st edition thus, i.e., by this publisher [Beale T-61; STC 15777]. Modern full brown leather binding with gilt stamped title lettering to spine. Red edgestain. Binding - Fine. Text block - VG, some browning to paper and with an early signature of one "Gerard" to t.p. Possibly Thomas Gerard, 1st Baron Gerard (c. 1564 - 15 January 1618) who was a Staffordshire and Lancashire landowner and politician, a member of six English parliaments for three different constituencies. Although a prominent member of the Essex faction in the reign of Elizabeth I, he avoided involvement in the Essex Rebellion and received greater honours, including a peerage, in the reign of James I. [Wiki].. 142, [2] ll. A Chart of Possessions, p. 2. 8vo: A - S^8.

Written during the reign of Edward IV [1442-1483] and first published around 1481, Littleton's Tenures is probably the most revered treatise in the history of the common law. Much admired for its learning and style, it is concerned with tenures and other issues relating to real property. This venerable work, which Coke called "the ornament of the Common Law, and the most perfect and absolute work that ever was written in any humane science," is a considered a landmark because it renounced the principles of Roman law (and Latin) in favor of a set of guidelines and doctrines drawn from the Year Books, and when necessary, hypothetical cases. OCLC locates 11 copies.