The last edition was in

been frequently reprinted. 1794, two vols. 8vo., in English. The author was a Judge of Common Pleas in the reign of Henry VIII. STAUNFORD. The Pleas of the Crown, by Sir William Staunford, 4to. This is the first work which treats the subject of criminal law professedly and in detail. It was first printed in 1583, in French, and there have been several editions of it. The author was a Judge of Common Pleas in the reign of Queen Mary. "In Master Staunford there is force and weight, and no common kind of style in matter none hath gone beyond him, in method none hath overtaken him." *

STATHAM'S Abridgment of the Law, folio. In French, without title or date. This work, the first of the Abridgments of the Law, is a kind of digest, containing most of the titles of the Law, arranged in alphabetical order, and comprising under each head adjudged cases, abridged from the Year-Books in a concise manner; it has served as a model to others in later times, but was superseded by the Abridgment of Fitzherbert, which came out about the same period. The author, Nicholas Statham, was Baron of the Exchequer in the reign of Edward IV. There is only one edition, which is in folio, without date, and is supposed to have been

* Fulbecke on the Study of the Law.

printed by W. Tailleur, at Rouen, for Pynson; at the end of the table are the words: "per me, R. Pynson," and at the end of the volume is Tailleur's device.

This Abridgment is comprised in 380 pages: the Abridgment of Mr Charles Viner, published about the middle of the last century, is in twenty-four volumes, folio, of which a second edition was published in twenty-four vols. 8vo., 1791-4, and a supplement in six vols. 8vo., 1799-1806.

FITZHERBERT's Grand Abridgment of the Law. This is one of our most ancient and authentic legal records, containing a great number of original authorities, quoted by different authors, which are not extant in the Year-Books, or elsewhere to be met with in print. It has also the advantage of being a very copious and useful commonplace-book or index to the Year-Books. The Library possesses a beautiful copy of the first edition of this work, printed in 1516, presented by Ranulph Cholmeley, and as there seems to be some uncertainty respecting the date of the first edition, some bibliographers having stated that it was printed in 1514, it may be worth while to give a description of this copy.

This edition is in three parts, each having a frontispiece. Prefixed to the first part is a woodcut of the king on his throne, crowned, holding the sceptre and mound, and over this cut are the words:

Prima pars hujus libri. To the second part is prefixed a wood-cut of the royal arms, crowned, supported by a dragon and greyhound, with a portcullis on each side of the arms; above, two angels, bearing scrolls with an inscription encircling a rose ; and over this cut are the words: Sequitur secunda pars. The third part has the same frontispiece as the second, and over it the words :—

Ultima pars hujus libri.

The price of the whole boke (XLS.) which boke conteyneth iii. grete volumes.

At the end is the following colophon:

Finis tocius istius operis finit XXI die Decembr.
Ao. dni Millecimo quingentesimo sextodecimo.

Beneath the colophon is a cut of the royal arms, but of smaller size than the former, and with some variations.

From the evidence of the wood-cuts, the same having been used in the "Fructus Temporum printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1515, Mr Herbert concludes that the work was either executed by that printer, or printed for him in France. It is worthy of notice, however, that the same type is used by John Rastell in the Tables to this Abridgment printed by him in the following year, 1517, the smaller letter being used in the Prologue, and the larger chiefly in the Tables. A copy of this

work was also presented to the Library by R. Cholmeley. In a notice of an edition of the Abridgment supposed to have been printed by Pynson in 1514, Mr. Herbert says there is a copy in Lincoln's Inn Library. This is erroneous; for it is the edition of 1516, as just described, which is in that Library ; nor can an edition of 1514 be traced in either of the Libraries of the Inns of Court, the Bodleian Library, or the British Museum. There is a copy at Holkham of the edition of 1516.

The copy in Lincoln's Inn is bound in three volumes, in a modern binding. On the inside of the covers of the first and second parts is pasted a paper label with the inscription of the donor: Ex dono Ranulphi de Cholmeley, &c.; and on one of the fly-leaves of the second part is the following quaint inscription: "Of your charity pray for the soul of Robert Crawley, sometime donor of this book, which is now worm's meat, as another day shall you be that now art full lustye, that remember, good christian brother. Farewell in the Lord. 1534.” At the end of the third part, also on one of the fly-leaves, is a Latin inscription in the same handwriting, nearly to the same effect.

The Abridgment was again printed by R. Tottell in 1565, two vols. folio; and with additional general Table by J. Rastell, in 1577, 4to.

BROOKE'S Grand Abridgment of the Law. In

this work, which is disposed under more titles than that of Fitzherbert, many readings are abridged which are not now extant, except in a work entitled Brooke's New Cases. Of this author, in comparison with Fitzherbert, Fulbecke says, "In the facilitie and compendious forme of abridging cases hee carrieth away the garland." Sir Robert Brooke was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in the reign of Philip and Mary. The first edition was printed in 1568, 4to.; it was reprinted in 1570, and in 1576; in 1573 it was printed in two vols. folio, by R. Tottell, and again in 1586.

ROLLE'S Abridgment of Cases and Resolutions in the Law. Mr. Hargrave speaks of this work as excellent in its kind, and in point of method, succinctness, legal precision, and many other respects, fit to be proposed as an example for other abridgments of the law. There is a Preface addressed to young students in the law of England, by Sir Matthew Hale. Henry Rolle was Chief Justice of the Upper Bench from 1648 to 1655. The work was printed in 1668, in two volumes folio, in French.

BOOK OF ASSISES. Le Liver des Assises et Plees del Corone, moves et dependauntz devaunt les Justices, en temps le Roy Edwarde le tierce.

This book, containing proceedings upon writs of assize of novel disseisin in the reign of Henry III., is often quoted and referred to by ancient writers,