HAYWOOD, John (1762-1826)

Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Superior Courts of Law and Equity of North Carolina Vol. i[-ii]. From the Year 1789, to the Year 1798

Fayetteville, TN.; Raleigh: William Boylan, 1829; 1806. 2 volumes. 8vo. (8 1/4 x 4 3/4 inches). Errata leaf, 502 pp., (18); 408 pp, (55).

Bound to style in half calf over marbled boards, leather labels.

An early Tennessee imprint compiling legal proceedings in North Carolina by a prominent Southern lawyer and historian.

John Haywood was a North Carolina attorney general, state treasurer, historian, and one of the original trustees of the University of North Carolina. Later in life he settled in Tennessee, and is best known for his histories of that state. Here, however, he documents North Carolina law cases that took place from 1789 to 1806. This set is made up from an 1829 second edition of the first volume, originally published in Halifax, NC in 1799 (Evans 35607), and the first edition of the second volume printed in Raleigh in 1806. Allen reports that he 'never determined why this separate Volume One was reprinted in Tennessee in 1829, but the book is a scarce and early Fayetteville, Tennessee imprint.' Haywood's reports are especially valuable for their documentation of precedent in a transitional period of American law, where English common law principles were being adapted to the context of a newly independent state. His work reflect both legal precision and a deep engagement with the evolution of republican institutions in the early United States.

Allen, More Tennessee Rarities 339; American Imprints 39872; Shaw & Shoemaker 11309.

Item #30453

Price: $1,200.00