Laws Concerning the Election of Members of Parliament, London, 1774

1780. London: Printed for W. Owen, 1780. "6th" ed.. London: Printed for W. Owen, 1780. "6th" ed. One of the First Works to Draw on Blackstone's Commentaries A Gentleman of the Inner Temple, Editor. [Bohun, William, Attributed]. Laws Concerning the Election of Members of Parliament; With The Determinations of the House of Commons Thereon, And All Their Incidents: Continued Down to the Present Time. The Whole Digested Under Proper Titles. Also an Appendix of Precedents; With Considerable Improvements, And Additions, From the Best Authorities, To Which is Added a Copious Index. London: Printed by His Maiesty's [sic] Law Printers, For W. Owen, 1780. xxxviii [i.e.xxxvii], 118; [2], 119-192,*191-*192,193-383,[21], 2 pp. Two parts, each with title page. Two-page publisher catalogue at end of second part. Octavo (8-1/2" x 5"). Contemporary calf, blind frames to boards, blind fillets along joints, raised bands and lettering piece to spine, blind tooling to board edges. Light rubbing and a few shallow scuffs to boards, front board neatly detached, spine rubbed with wear to lettering piece and ends, corners bumped and lightly worn. Moderate toning to interior, faint stains to a few leaves, light soiling to title page, offsetting to margins of endleaves. $200. * "Sixth" edition, actually the third, the final edition of this work. The anonymous editor notes in the advertisement that he has drawn extensively on Comyns's Digest of the Laws of England, Lyttleton's Life of King Henry II, Whitelocke's Notes Upon the King's Writ for Choosing Members of Parliament (in Morton's edition) and Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. One of the very first books to draw on the Commentaries, Laws Concerning the Election is a landmark in the history of its reception by the English bar. It is also a remarkably thorough work that considers causes determined by parliamentary committee, the House of Commons and the laws of England, Scotland and Wales from 1382 to 1780. First published in 1768, with a second edition in 1774, it was based on an earlier anonymous work, Determinations in the House of Commons Concerning Elections, which went through five editions between 1741 and 1761. The "sixth" edition designation of the final edition is a reference to the earlier work. English Short-Title Catalogue T112824.