Book Description

Reprint of the first edition. Originally published: Baltimore: Printed for the Editor, 1800-1802. Two volumes. iv, 9-562, 1; iv, 230 pp. Reprinted 2004, 2011 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. * Although Zepheniah Swift's index to the 1796 Folwell edition of The Laws of the United States is sometimes cited, Herty's was the first true digest of Federal laws. According to an advertisement, he produced it to suit "the circumstances and ease of the citizens of every denomination of those States, having for its end, conciseness in substance, simplicity in arrangement, and cheapness in the purchase thereof." Following the model of his earlier Digest of the Laws of Maryland (1799), Herty arranged the main texts of all Federal public laws alphabetically under general heads with references to other heads as they may have enlarged, abridged, or otherwise altered each other. A useful supplement to early Federal session law, all entries contain references to The Laws of the United States. Texts of the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation are also included, as well as the texts of important treaties and a table of duties. Both volumes have extensive indexes. Thomas Herty was a conveyancer in Washington City (DC), and the author of A Digest of the Laws of Maryland (1799).