COMMENTARIES ON COLONIAL AND FOREIGN LAWS

First edition: 4 volumes, 771 + 871 + 1080 + (758 & 123 index) pages, contemporary full calf, rebacked, red and black title labels. The leather is worn along all the edges, stamp of a previous owner on the title pages, light foxing on the preliminary pages of each volume, overall a sturdy set.

William Burge, Esq., Q.C., born in 1786, matriculated at Oxford in 1803, was admitted to the Inner Temple and then called to the bar in 1808, when he joined the colonial service. He was stationed to Jamaica, where he served 20 years, the last 12 as attorney general. Returning to England in 1829, he spent the rest of his life practicing before the Privy Council, as well as being influential in colonial affairs. For many years until his death on Nov. 12, 1849, he served also as Jamaica’s London agent..... Commentaries on Colonial and Foreign Laws was the first, and remained the preeminent, legal work attempting to deal comparatively with the main divisions of the law of persons and property in the various legal systems prevailing in the British dependencies.....This original, 1838, edition of Burge’s work, went through several reprints and editions. It was substantially enhanced and updated in 1907. (Law Library Microform Consortium, http://www.llmc.com/index.asp)