A New Treatise On The Laws For Preservation Of The Game

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Cunningham, T[imothy]. A New and Complete Law-Dictionary, or, General Abridgment of the Law: On a More Extensive Plan than any Law-Dictionary Hitherto Published. Containing not only the Explanation of the Terms but also the Law itself, Both with Regard to Theory and Practice. Also the Interpretations of the Words Made Use of in our Ancient Charters, Chronicles, Histories, Records, and Registers. Together with such Knowledge as is Necessary to Illustrate the Antiquity of the Law and our Original Government and Customs in Former Times. London: J.F. and C. Rivington, 1783. Two volumes, 9" x 14." Reprinted 2004 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. With a new introduction by Bryan A. Garner. ISBN 1-58477-274-3. Cloth. $495. * Third and final edition. "The first dictionary which aimed at completeness as regards legal terms only was that of Cunningham..." Hicks, Materials and Methods of Legal Research. Third Rev. Edition 247. The author of more than twenty books, Cunningham [1718?-1789] was one of the most prolific legal writers of the eighteenth century. Like Jacob, Cunningham aimed to create a dictionary that would give a complete account of the law. The result is a work that is also an abridgment, and includes summaries of cases and precedents in equity and statutes. Along with those of Jacob and Marriot, it was one of the most popular comprehensive English dictionaries of the period, and was found in Thomas Jefferson's library. Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson 1814. Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations I:8 (22). Marvin, Legal Bibliography (1847) 245. Holdsworth, A History of English Law XII:177.

The eighteenth-century English game laws have long been synonymous with petty tyranny. By imposing a property qualification on sportsmen, they effectively denied all but country gentlemen the right to take game or even to possess a gun. Those who challenged the gentry's monopoly were fined or imprisoned, usually after only a summary hearing by the local justice of the peace. In the early nineteenth century, it was claimed that one out of every four inmates in England's prisons was an offender against the game laws. Bitterly denounced at the time, they have continued to be condemned by historians as arbitrary, savage and unjust. This book is the first full scholarly examination of the English game laws. Based on material drawn from over two dozen archives - including judicial records, estate correspondence and personal diaries - it attempts to explain what the laws actually were, why they were passed, how they were enforced and why they were eventually repealed. The picture which emerges from this investigation challenges the conventional wisdom about the game laws in a number of important respects.