REPORTS OF CASES ADJUDGED IN THE SUPERIOR COURT AND SUPREME COURT OF ERRORS, FROM JULY A.D. 1789 TO JUNE A.D 1793; WITH A VARIETY OF CASES ANTERIOR TO THAT PERIOD. PREFACED WITH OBSERVATIONS UPON THE GOVERNMENT AND LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. TO WHICH IS SUBJOINED, SUNDRY LAW POINTS ADJUDGED, AND RULES OF PRACTICE ADOPTED IN THE SUPERIOR COURT. BY...A JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT. VOL. I. [offered with] REPORTS OF CASES ADJUDGED IN THE SUPERIOR COURT AND SUPREME COURT OF ERRORS, FROM JUNE A.D. 1793 , TO JANUARY A.D. 1798: BEING FOUR YEARS AND A HALF, OR, NINE CIRCUITS. VOL. II

Hartford: Hudson and Goodwin., 1798. [4], [i]-xlvi, [47]-584, [52] pp; [8], 536, [28] pp [as issued]. [as issued]. A clean and bright text, bound uniformly in later cloth with gilt-lettered morocco spine label. Rubberstamp on one front free endpaper of Volume I. Very Good.

The first edition of each volume. Pages [49]-[52] of the first volume comprise the list of Subscribers, virtually the entire Connecticut Bar and Bench. "The cases were originally taken for the author's private use" [Marvin]. A veteran of the Revolution who also served in the Continental Congress, Root was appointed Chief Justice of the Superior Court in 1798. The Introduction treats the origins of law in Connecticut, "derived from the law of nature and revelation" rather than the Common Law of England. A comparison of English and Connecticut law underscores "the difference which pervades their whole system, manifest in the spirit and principles of the laws, the objects, and in the rules themselves... These rights and liberties are our own; not holden by the gift of a despot."
FIRST EDITIONS. Evans 34485. Marvin 619. II Harv. Law Cat. 491. XVI DAB 148. AI 3017 [5]. Not in Cohen. (Inventory #: 30157)