An Abstract of All the Penall Statutes Which be Generall, In Force..

1600. The Leading Elizabethan-Era Authority on Criminal Law Pulton, Ferdinand(o) [1536-1618], Compiler. An Abstract of All the Penall Statutes Which be Generall, In Force and Use: Wherein is Conteined the Effect of All Those Statutes, Which Doe Threaten to the Offenders Thereof, The Losse of Life, Member, Lands, Goods, Or Other Punishment or Forfaiture Whatsoever. Whereunto is also Added, In Theire Apte Titles, The Effect of All Other Generall Statutes, Wherin There is Any Thing Materiall and Necessarie for Eache Subiect to Know. Moreover the Authoritie and Duetie of All Iustices, Shirifes, Coroners, Eschetors, Maiors, Baylifes, Customers, Comptrollers of Custome, Stewardes of Leetes and Liberties, Aulnegers, And Purveyours, And What Things by the Letter of Severall Statutes in Force, They May, Ought, Or are Compellable to Doe. London: Printed by Thomas Wight, 1600. [viii], 404 ff. Quarto (8-1/2" x 5-3/4"). Recent calf, blind rules to boards, blind fillets to spine, endpapers renewed. Some fading to spine. Light toning and soiling to interior, occasional faint dampstaining to lower margin of first quarter of text block and a few other places, faint offsetting and light edgewear to first and final few leaves, small clean tear to bottom-edge of leaf X2 (f. 154) affecting text without loss, tears to fore-edges of ff. 194-196 not affecting text. $2,000. * Final edition. Pulton was the leading authority on criminal law during the Elizabethan era, a status confirmed in 1609 with his great De Pace Regis et Regni, in large part based on the Abstract. As a Catholic, he was not allowed to practice and devoted his energies to editing the statutes. First published in 1560, this abridgment established Pulton's reputation and went through nine editions. Holdsworth, A History of English Law V:39. English Short-Title Catalogue S4263.