Book Description

Jacob, Giles. A New Law-Dictionary: Containing, The Interpretation and Definition of Words and Terms used in the Law; and Also the Whole Law, and the Practice Thereof, Under All the Heads and Titles of the Same. Together With Such Informations Relating Thereto, as Explain the History and Antiquity of the Law, and Our Manners, Customs, and Original Government. Collected and Abstracted From All Dictionaries, Abridgments, Institutes, Reports, Year-Books, Charters, Registers, Chronicles, and Histories, Published to This Time. And Fitted for the Use of Barristers, Students, and Practicioners of the Law, Members of Parliament, and Other Gentlemen, Justices of Peace, Clergymen, &c. The Fifth Edition, with Great Additions and Improvements, and the Law-Proceedings Done Into English. To Which is Annexed, a Table of References to All the Arguments and Resolutions of the Lord Chief Justice Holt; in the Several Volumes of the Reports. London: Printed by Henry Lintot, 1744. Unpaginated [828 pp.]. Printed in double columns. Folio (9" x 12"). Reprinted 2004 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-376-6. Cloth. $295. * Reprint of the fifth edition, which was the last published during the author's lifetime. As Cowley pointed out, the New Law-Dictionary (first edition, 1729) was both Jacob's masterpiece and "an entirely new departure in legal literature" that provided a model for several subsequent efforts. In contrast to earlier works, each entry summarizes all of the laws relating to the subject and offers extensive interpretive commentary. Jacob [1686-1744] was also careful to omit obsolete terms. It was recognized almost immediately that Jacob had created a highly useful legal encyclopedia that was both more detailed and concise than any other abridgment of the period. An extremely popular work that went through twelve editions by 1800, it offers unparalleled insights into Anglo-American law during the eighteenth century. Cowley, A Bibliography of Abridgements, Digests, Dictionaries and Indexes to the Year 1800 xc-xci, 244.