Book Description

Powell, John Joseph. Essay Upon the Law of Contracts and Agreements. Walpole: Printed, At the Press of Thomas & Thomas, by David Newhall, 1802. Two volumes. Reprint available January 2005 by the Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-520-3. Cloth. $150. * Reprint of the first American edition of the first treatise on the subject. (It is based on the first London edition, 1790, to which it is starred.) Powell [1755?-1801] wrote several distinguished treatises that were used widely in England and America, including this one. Though mildly critical of its organization, Holdsworth considers it "an able book" that "is much more than a digest of cases" because "[i]n all cases the author tries, with considerable success, to state principles, and to illustrate them by cases.": History of English Law XII:392.