Form books have been a staple of Anglo-American legal literature since the 12th century. 这些书, 通常被称为判例书, offer form or sample documents that help lawyers prepare legal documents. 这种来源的扩散是有道理的. 律师花费大量时间起草诉状, 运动, 三角裤, 合同, 公司章程, 章程——这个名单还在继续.
今天, many sources of forms are digital (think of Westlaw’s FormFinder; annotated forms on Practical Law and Lexis Practice Advisor; and many others, (免费和订阅), 允许快速编辑和定制. This exhibit looks at the forerunners of these in-demand electronic sources and examines the long tradition in our legal literature of providing forms for lawyers’ drafting tasks.
的 exhibit was curated by Laurel Davis, Curator of Rare Books/Legal Reference Librarian. 它将一直展出到2017年2月. 请进来看看!
的 展览目录 可下载.
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Ranulph de Glanville， 立法与司法论丛(英). 伦敦,1554年?].
的 earliest collections of forms were compilations of precedents of writs, the brief writings through which actions could be initiated in the royal courts. This is the first printed edition of the Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of England, 被认为是Ranulph de Glanville的作品, 亨利二世时期的首席大法官.
的 treatise essentially is a procedural manual and form book, with over eighty model writs and commentary to guide practitioners in the King’s Courts. 点击图片以更高的分辨率观看.
丹尼尔·R的礼物. Coquillette
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万能登记. 伦敦,1634年.
1531年由威廉·拉斯特尔首次印刷 万能登记 ("的 Register of All Writs") is an early collection of writs; it had already been circulating in manuscript for centuries.
This beautiful 1634 edition contains hundreds of Chancery writs, 这会引起诉讼吗, 还有一些司法令状, which generally were issued by the courts of law during litigation and after judgment.
丹尼尔·R的礼物. Coquillette
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《电子游戏软件》. 伦敦,1584年.
《电子游戏软件》是一份精选的 万能登记，附有评论. 这个标题, 就像这个展览中的许多人一样, had been around in manuscript form long before it was first printed. 这个早期印刷的版本有一个柔软的牛皮纸装订.
丹尼尔·R的礼物. Coquillette
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安东尼-费彻博, 《电子游戏软件》. 伦敦,1616年.
When English judge and scholar Anthony Fitzherbert published his own Natura Brevium in 1534, 他的作品被称为“新”或“nouvelle”自然简写, 原来的那个变成了"old"或"vieux". 菲茨赫伯特补充说明了法律的最新发展.
We have the 1560 edition in the exhibit, along with this one from 1616. 它从头到尾都有注解, often with manicules (little drawn hands with fingers pointing at the text that was of interest to the reader).
丹尼尔·R的礼物. Coquillette
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爱德华·科克爵士， 记事簿. 伦敦,1671年.
Taken from entries on the rolls (the parchment rolls that became the official record of a suit), books such as this one provided precedents or forms of pleading that guided lawyers as they maneuvered through the treacherous process of pleading a client’s case. 我们这张科克作品的拷贝属于利瓦伊·林肯, a Massachusetts revolutionary and Attorney General to Thomas Jefferson.
这部作品是威廉·拉斯特尔早期作品的继承者 主菜精选，也在本次展览中展出. Coke claims in his preface that none of the entries contained within had been previously published. 的 pleadings provided here can be viewed as a supplement to his 报告.
丹尼尔·R的礼物. Coquillette
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托马斯•Phayer 一本关于总统的书. 伦敦,1641年.
表格书并不局限于诉讼领域. 首次出版于1543年, Phayer’s book of precedents (often spelled "presidents") was the first collection of modern conveyancing forms. It went through many editions before being supplanted in the late 17th century by Orlando Bridgman’s 交通工具.
Our copy was owned by British judge and scholar Frederick Pollock. This image shows the first precedent, given first in Latin and then translated into English.
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约瑟的故事, 美国宣言的先例. 波士顿,1802年.
革命前, lawyers in the American colonies were reliant on forms from reprinted English books. Soon, the need arose for a domestic source, and this was the most important early compilation.
This collection of forms came from the collection of preeminent American lawyer and SJC Chief Justice, 西奥菲勒斯帕森斯. 在前言中, the anonymous compiler and editor (generally thought to be Joseph Story) notes the insufficiency of English sources, in which "useful matter lies buried amid heaps of antiquated learning and superfluous detail."
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[未知编译器，可能是小威廉·波普。.], 先例. 1806.
This personal book of precedents presumably was copied by a law apprentice using the forms from the office where he worked, 常见的做法. Most of the forms came from well-known New Jersey practitioners in the second half of the 18th century. 的 bulk of them seem to have originated with Richard Stockton, Sr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence and member of the Continental Congress.
A notation on the front flyleaf indicates that this book of precedents, 封面上写着"叛军奖杯, was found under the floorboards of a Hilton Head plantation by a Union soldier in 1861.
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布鲁克合集第1290号 盗窃投诉. 布里斯托尔，马萨诸塞湾殖民地，1807年.
即使有这些判例书, lawyers and court officials (or their apprentices or scriveners) still had to spend onerous amounts of time copying the forms out by hand. 的 development of pre-printed legal forms (known as "law blanks") allowed for even greater time savings.
It appears that the Justice of the Peace who filled out this form complaint was very used to writing these out by hand—he forgot that the form included some of the language and had to cross out his writing.
罗伯特·E的礼物. 布鲁克三世
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约翰•屈里曼 Placita光圈: Or Pleas of the Crown in Matters Criminal and Civil, 包含大量的现代先例. 伦敦,1723年.
Form books were also compiled for the needs of criminal practitioners. This is one of the earliest collections of precedents of English criminal law. It begins with indictments for high treason and then covers murder, 抢劫, 阴谋等等.
的 forms are pulled from real pleadings taken down in the Yearbooks and other 报告. Tremaine includes references to where the case was reported and often how it was resolved (e.g.，“该病例于1997年在Keble报告...no Judgment; but the Court seemed inclined to give Judgment for the King").
