COURTS

[‘the lover of words (as I am)’: Lord Birkett, judge, British representative at the Nuremberg Trials.] Two Typed Letters Signed, one with long Autograph Postscript, and Typed Note Signed, all to V. H. Collins, defending his use of language.

Author: 
Lord Birkett [William Norman Birkett, 1st Baron Birkett] (1883-1962), judge, a British representative at the Nuremberg Trials, Lord Justice of Appeal, Liberal Member of Parliament [Vere Henry Collins]
Publication details: 
LETTERS: 9 July 1953 and 11 May 1954. NOTE: 14 July 1953. All three items on letterheads of the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, WC2.
£180.00

The third letter gives an excellent indication of Birkett’s pride in his use of language. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Vere Henry Collins (1872-1966), was an author and grammatical stickler. All three signed ‘Norman Birkett’. In fair condition, lightly aged and little grubby. The first letter with a small hole to one corner, and the two leaves of the last letter held together with a pin. ONE: ALS, 9 July 1953. 1pp, 4to. He is adding Collins’s book to his ‘select library on “words”’.

[Sir Edward Fry, judge and zoologist.] Autograph Letter in the third person, asking Bernard Piffard, microscopist etc, to send him a 'Micro-slide'.

Author: 
Sir Edward Fry (1827-1918), judge and zoologist, Lord Justice of Appeal [Bernard Piffard (1833-1916), entomologist and microscopist]
Publication details: 
14 November 1885. On letterhead of 5 The Grove, Highgate [London].
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the Piffard papers. 1p, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Reads: 'Lord Justice Fry would be obliged if Mr Piffard would send him a Micro-slide of Conidia bearing Hyphae of Eurotium repens, isolated & stained by a new application of Iodine Vapour. He encloses 2/- in stamps.'

[Lord Sankey [John Sankey, 1st Viscount Sankey], judge, Labour politician whose committee drew up the 1940 Sankey Declaration of the Rights of Man.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘[A.G.L.] Rogers’, regarding a 'hostel' and the Bishop of St David's.

Author: 
Lord Sankey [John Sankey, 1st Viscount Sankey (1866-1948)], High Court judge, Labour politician who chaired the committee that drew up the 1940 Sankey Declaration of the Rights of Man [A.G.L. Rogers]
Publication details: 
1 January 1926. On embossed letterhead of the Royal Courts of Justice.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of Arthur George Liddon Rogers (1864-1944), son and editor of the economist Thorold Rogers [James Edwin Thorold Rogers] (1823-1890), for information regarding whom see his entry in the Oxford DNB. A little grubby, but in fair condition, folded once. Good clear signature. Reads: ‘The 1st. of January 1926. / My dear Rogers, / Many thanks for your letter and information re the hostel. I have already brought it before The Bishop of St. David’s and hope that something may result. / With kind regards and best wishes.

[Sir Edward Parry [Sir Edward Abbott Parry], judge and dramatist.] Autograph Signature to cutting of newspaper article by him on ‘Brach of Promise / The Law, the Lady, and Sex Equality’.

Author: 
Sir Edward Parry [Sir Edward Abbott Parry] (1863–1943), judge and dramatist
Publication details: 
Dated by Parry to April 1930.
£30.00

See the account of his life in the entry for his father the serjeant-at-law John Humffreys Parry (1816-1880) in the Oxford DNB. Signed ‘faithfully yours / Edward Parry / April . 1930’, across the headline of a 22 x 21 cm. cutting of a newspaper article, with text in three columns, the headline reading: ‘BREACH OF PROMISE / THE LAW, THE LADY, AND SEX EQUALITY/ By His Honour SIR EDWARD PARRY’. In good condition, on browning high-acidity paper. Folded once and with one crease. Begins: ‘Marriage is not the gilt-edged security that it was. Its stock is not rising.

[Sir James Alan Park, Georgian judge.] Two notebooks filled with modern manuscript transcriptions of 'Extracts from his Diary 1805-38'. With typescript of some of the transcriptions.

Author: 
Sir James Alan Park (1763-1838), Scottish judge in the English courts
Publication details: 
The entries from Park's diary dating from between 1805 and 1838. The transcriptions apparently made in the 1970s [in Kent?].
£350.00

Vol.1: [1] + 78pp. Vol.2: 8 [+ 8]pp. A total of 86pp of extracts from Park's twelve volumes of diaries. Unpublished. In two uniform stapled notebooks, small 4to, in orange card covers, with the following printed on the reverse of each: 'Manufactured by Supplies Department, Kent County Council'. Accompanied by eleven pages of typed transcriptions from the notebooks. Altogether in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Each volume titled in manuscript on the front cover, with the following shelfmark or entry number: '(M265)'.

[ W. Howland Roberts, Honorary Secretary, The Society of Judges of County Courts. ] Proceedings of the General Meetings of the Society, held respectively on Friday, the 5th of May, 1905, and Friday, the 3rd of November, 1905.

Author: 
The Society of the Judges of County Courts.[ W. Howland Roberts, Honorary Secretary. ] [ Sir Richard Harington (1835-1911) of Ridlington, 11th Baronet ]
Publication details: 
[ The Society of the Judges of County Courts, both held 'at the Bloomsbury County Court [ London ]'. 3 November 1905. ]
£100.00

12pp., 12mo. Stapled pamphlet. On aged paper, with rusted staples. The first report is on pp.2-4, the second on pp.5-8, signed in type (p.8) by Roberts; pp.9-11 carry the 'Report of the Committee', signed in type (p.11) by Roberts and dated 3 November 1905; p.12 carries financial accounts by Roberts for the year 1905. A point of discussion is 'the Bill relating to County Courts, now before Parliament'. From the papers of Sir Richard Harington of Ridlington, 11th Baronet, who is listed among those present at the first meeting, at the beginning of which he made a couple of contributions.

[ Sir Richard Harington, 12th Baronet, Puisne Judge in India. ] Items from his papers, including carbon typescripts of his 'Observations' on 'Sir J. G. Barnes' Committee', and of the resolutions thereon by the Worcestershire Incorporated Law Society.

Author: 
Sir Richard Harington, 12th Baronet (1861-1931), Puisne Judge in India, High Sheriff of Herefordshire, 1918 [ John Gorell Barnes, 1st Baron Gorell (1848-1913), Committee on County Courts, 1908 ]
Publication details: 
Harington's 'Observations' dated from Whitbourne Court, Worcester, 12 November 1908. The other carbon dated 23 November 1908. The other five items undated.
£180.00

Seven items. The first two are ink stained but still entirely legible, otherwise the material is in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE: Carbon typescript (7pp., 8vo) headed 'Observations by Sir Richard Harington on the questions submitted to the Judges of County Courts and others by Sir J. G. Barnes' Committee.' Dated from Whitbourne Court, Worcester, 12 November 1908. Docketed by Harington: '1908 | County Courts | Observations by Sir Rd. H.' With a few minor autograph emendations. Giving detailed answers to four questions.

[ Sir Edward Marshall Hall, 'The Great Defender'. ] Small collection of family papers, including ten portrait photographs (by Carl Vandyk, Bertram Park, Kohler and Blake), two calling cards, funeral service, racing diary.

Author: 
Sir Edward Marshall Hall (1858-1927, 'The Great Defender'), distinguished advocate [ Carl Vandyk (1851-1931), Bertram Park (1883-1972), Kohler and Sons, and Jack Myer Blake, London photographers ]
Publication details: 
[ London. Early twentieth century. ]
£400.00

For more information on Marshall Hall's illustrious career, see his entry in the Oxford DNB. Fifteen items, the collection in fair overall condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE: Ten original photographic portraits of Hall, ranging in size from 14 x 9 cm. (carte-de-visite by 'The Biograph Studio | 107 Regent St, W.') to 29 x 21 cm (on mount stamped '185 Piccadilly W1', the studio of Kohler & Sons). Eight of the ten are mounted on paper or card, with printed photographers' details, and three of these are signed (two photographs by Carl Vandyk, both signed in pencil by 'C.

[ Edward Marjoribanks, biographer of Sir Edward Marshall Hall. ] Fine piece of calligraphy, on vellum, from the Marshall Hall papers: Marjoribanks's poem on Hall, 'A Great Advocate'

Author: 
Edward Marjoribanks (1900-1932), barrister and Conservative MP, biographer of the distinguished advocate Sir Edward Marshall Hall (1858-1927)
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated. [ London, 1927, 1928 or 1929. ]
£180.00

On one side of a 20 x 15 cm piece of vellum. Main text in black ink. Sonnet titled 'A Great Advocate', with author's name 'Edward Marjoribanks' at foot. From the papers of Sir Edward Marshall Hall, and presumably produced for his widow, possibly by the author. (Hall's widow is said to have claimed that on reading this poem he appeared to her in a vision - the Halls were keen spiritualists - directing that Marjoribanks write his biography. The book was published in 1929.) Title, capitals of octave and sestet, and author's name in red ink. In very good condition.

[ Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne. ] Secretarial Letter, signed 'Lansdowne | &ct. &ct.', to 'Sec[retar]y. of Commission', containing a list of 'the names of [Wiltshire] Gentlemen to be added to the Magistracy'.

Author: 
Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice (1780-1863), 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne [ Lord Lansdowne], Whig statesman
Publication details: 
Bowood [ Bowood House, Derry Hill, Wiltshire ]. 20 December 1861.
£65.00

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, on aged and lightly-worn paper, with a few minor rust stains. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to the Secretary of the Commission of the Peace. In the hand of a secretary, and signed by Lansdowne. Addressed by Lansdowne on reverse of second leaf 'Sec[retar]y. of Commission'. Docketed: 'Decber. 20th 1861 | Wilts | Ld. Lansdowne recd several | <?> all but the 2 parsons'.

Manuscript 'Inventory of Plate and other articles bequeathed by the Fifth Codicil to the Will of The Right Honourable John Manners Earl of Hardwicke, to go and be held and enjoyed with the Title and Honours of Hardwicke.' Signed by the trustees.

Author: 
Messrs Green & Abbott, 33 Davies Street, Berkeley Square, London; Richard Woollcombe, solicitor, 36 Theobald's Road, London [John Manners Yorke (1840-1909), 7th Earl of Hardwicke]
Publication details: 
In the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, London. 1920.
£280.00

14pp., small 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper, in ruled notebook, in worn black morocco binding, with marbled endpapers, and the following stamped in gilt on the front cover: 'The Right Honble John Manners | Earl of Hardwicke deceased | Inventory of Heirlooms'.

Eighteenth century manuscript manorial Court Leet 'Charge in the Court Baron', engrossed on vellum, giving instructions for an enquiry to be made by a land steward into matters 'that concen the Lord's Interest'.

Author: 
[Eighteenth-century Manorial Court Leet 'Charge in the Court Baron']
Publication details: 
Place and date not given. [English; mid-eighteenth century?]
£160.00

Engrossed on both sides of a long strip of vellum, 18.5 x 76 cm. Written in a neat clerk's hand. The vellum is worn, with slight damage at the head, and some passages, particularly at the start, are illegible. The heading appears to be 'Court Leet Charge', and the sub-heading 'Charge in the Court Baron' appears twice. The text is strongly reminiscent to the relevant sections in Giles Jacob's 'Complete Court-Keeper, or, Land-Steward's Assistant'.

Autograph Letter Signed "Saml Romilly" to unnamed correspondent [Hans Francis Hastings. See note below, re. claim to peerage].

Author: 
Sir Samuel Romilly, law reformer and advocate (1757-1818).
Publication details: 
Tanhurst nr Dorking, 5 Oct. 1817.
£225.00

Three pages, 12mo. Good only: some staining but text clear and complete. He's been away and so has only just received his correspondent's letter. He continues: "It is impossible for me to give you any information as to the probable amount of the Expence of presenting your claim to the Earldom of Huntingdon before the House of Lords. As however the pedigree is a very long one & the attendance of many witnesses with the original parish Registers will be necessary I apprehend that it must be very considerable.

Six Autograph Letters Signed by Hume-Campbell (all 'A: Hume-Campbell') to his 'Couzin' (a member of the Tonyn family).

Author: 
Alexander Hume-Campbell (1708-1760), Member of Parliament and Lord Clerk Register from 1756 to 1760 [Hugh Hume-Campbell, 3rd Earl of Marchmont]
Publication details: 
All six letters dated from London in 1759.
£450.00

All six letters in quarto; good, on aged paper; and with text neatly-written, clear and entire. Letter One: 3 May 1759. 2 pp. 40 lines of text. Giving advice regarding a will to be drawn up by a Mrs Robertson. 'As to the place where Mrs. Robertson makes the Disposition it is absolutely immaterial, [...] and then her will wrote in her own hand writing without witnesses will be as good as with twenty witnesses [...]'. Valediction from 'your affectionate friend & Cousin'. Letter Two: 30 June 1759. 1 pp. 24 lines.

Verbatim report of the libel action Foster v. Beauchamp in the High Court of Justice, King's Bench Division, Royal Courts of Justice, before Mr Justice Darling and a special jury.

Author: 
[SUFFOLK LIBEL ACTION] North Suffolk Election, December, 1910.
Publication details: 
19 and 20 July 1911. 'Published by Arthur E. Hebbes, Election Agent, and Chief Conservative and Unionist Agent for the Northern or Lowestoft Division of the County of Suffolk, 88, London Road, Lowestoft.
£65.00

8vo. 94 pages. 2 pages facsimile of an electoral handbill. One fold-out plate. In poor condition. Damp stained, and in remains of repaired grey printed wraps. Paper browning. 'Printed by J. Rochford O'Driscoll, Printer, Dagmar House, Lowestoft.' The case for the plaintiff, Harry Seymour Foster, was led by the celebrated F. E. Smith (Later Earl of Birkenhead). The defendant was Edward (later Sir Edward) Beauchamp. The main cause of what the judge in summing-up described as 'a political action' was a letter by 'FISHERMAN' (i.e.

Northcliffe: The Facts.

Author: 
Louise Owen [Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, Viscount Northcliffe; Harold Sidney Harmsworth, Viscount Rothermere]
Publication details: 
London: 22 Buckingham Gate, S.W.1. [Preface dated 'September, 1931.'] ['Printed in Great Britain by Louise Owen, 2, Johnson's Court, London, E.C.4.'
£45.00

8vo: 334 pp. Portrait of Northcliffe as frontispiece. Three facsimiles of letters in text and fold-out with facsimiles of three of Northcliffe's letters. Inscribed by Owen on front pastedown 'To Elaine from Louise and Northcliffe. | Nov. 1938'. (The reference to 'Northcliffe' is explained by the fact that Owen considered herself a spirit medium, in contact with the deceased Viscount.) Internally good: sound and tight, on lightly aged paper. In original worn red cloth, with slight bloom on front.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W Scott') to his son-in-law Viscount Sidmouth.

Author: 
Sir William Scott [William Scott, Baron Stowell; Lord Stowell] (1745–1836), judge and politician [Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth (1757-1844), British prime minister]
Publication details: 
25 July 1818; Earley Court [Berkshire].
£28.00

12mo: 3 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper. Small spike hole through both leaves of the bifolium. Text clear and entire. Execrable hand. Begins 'I certainly shall not secede from my conditional Promise'. Paragraph describing the weather ('The Heat of the Weather here is intolerable.') 'I agree entirely with respect to the Character of our worthy departed friend. It is a great loss to this Part of the Country.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('C R Hewitt') to Sewell Stokes.

Author: 
C. R. Hewitt (1901-1994) (Cecil Rolph Hewitt, who wrote under the pseudonym 'C. H. Rolph'), English policeman, journalist, editor and author [Francis Martin Sewell Stokes (1902-1979); G. W. Stonier]
Publication details: 
21 November 1957; 6 Liskeard Gardens, London, SE3, on New Statesman letterhead.
£45.00

8vo, 2 pp, 33 lines. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. An interesting letter, written by a former policeman to a former probation officer, on the subject of the latter's book 'Come to Prison: A Tour through British Prisons today' (Longmans, 1957), about which the former has written a negative review. Begins by praising Stokes' 'really generous letter, written at what cost in self-control I can only dimly imagine'. When Hewitt 'read the published review', he thought 'that it was still on the whole unfair'. 'I hate reviewing really, and am a bad reviewer.

A Plain Tale.

Author: 
[Eimar Ultan O'Duffy (1893-1935), Irish satirical writer]
Publication details: 
Undated; place and printer not stated.
£85.00

One page, in two 62-line columns. Octavo leaf with blank reverse. Good, on lightly aged paper with slight nicking and creasing to edges. Satirical account of 'simple soul' Michael James's dealings with his hypocritical neighbour Susan Elizabeth, who hands him a white feather when he refuses to enlist in the British Army during the Great War. On 'the Day' of the Easter Rising James fights and is wounded and 'thrown into the interment camp at Frongoch'. Susan Elizabeth then becomes 'a great Sinn Feiner.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A. E. Cockburn') to Thomas Cruttwell, solicitor, of Bath; together with Signed photograph of Cockburn, from the studio of Henry Dixon, Regent's Park, London.

Author: 
Sir Alexander James Edmund Cockburn (1802-1880), 12th Baronet, Lord Chief Justice of England.
Publication details: 
Letter dated 5 April 1846; Castle Taunton. Photograph undated.
£180.00

Letter: four pages, folio. Good, with a little aging and staining to verso of second leaf of bifolium. In Cruttwell's absence Cockburn has taken it upon himself 'to settle Richardson & . Taylor has communicated the result of his interview with Hellings the previous evening. 'He informed me that he had seen certain letters written by the D[e]f[endan]ts to Mrs. Richardson, in which he solicited her to leave her husband, and to bring away with her money and goods belonging to the husband'. Taylor recommends that Hellings' offer of £50 be accepted.

Autograph Note Signed to Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie the younger.

Author: 
John Romilly, 1st Baron Romilly
Publication details: 
6 February 1862; 6 Hyde Park Terrace, W.
£30.00

English lawyer (1802-74) and Master of the Rolls, 1851-73. The recipient (1817-80) was a noted chemist. Two pages, 16mo. Very good, but sumwhat dusty and grubby. Reads 'My dear Sir Benjamin | I am much oblig'd to you for your kind. [sic] I am not aware of the circumstance, or rather the rule you mention or I should not have committed thte 'indiscretion' of asking you to sign my sons recommendation'. Signed 'John Romilly'.

Autograph Letter Signed to <?>.

Author: 
Francis Henry Bacon
Publication details: 
11 August 1893; on letterhead 'KENTWELL HALL, | LONG MELFORD, | SUFFOLK.'
£36.00

Three pages, 12mo. In good condition, but with the name of the recipient scored through. Judge (born c. 1832), and son of Sir James Bacon (1798-1895), the last of the pre-1875 Vice-Chancellors. A late reply to a request for information for an article on snuffboxes for The Windsor Magazine. 'I have no snuffboxes I suppose somebody suggested our name but I have never been a collector and my father [the late Ex Vice Chancellor] who took snuff always used the commonest of boxes.' The name of the recipient has been scored through.

Note Signed to unnamed judge.

Author: 
Hardinge Stanley Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury
Publication details: 
12 January 1888; on House of Lords letterhead.
£56.00

Lord Chancellor of England (1825-1921), author of the monumental 'Laws of England'. One page, 4to. In good condition though somewhat grubby. Folded twice, and with embossed House of Lords stamp and armorial stamp in red ink in top left-hand corner. Opening ('My dear Judge') and salutation ('faithfully yours | Halsbury') by Halsbury, the rest in secretarial hand. Reads 'I have to thank you for your letter of the 11th., and for the arrangements which have been made, at Mr. Justice Stirling's request, and of which I entirely approve'.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
George Bankes
Publication details: 
11 June <year?>; 16 George Street, Hanover Square.
£45.00

Last of the cursitor Barons of the Exchequer (1788-1856). 2 pages, 16mo. In good condition though grubby. 'As I am afraid my former letter may not have reached you, I venture again most earnestly to request your support being convinced that the fate of the contest may probably be determined by a small number of votes, & that consequently the personal attendance of every friend to the cause of which I am an humble advocate becomes of the most serious importance under these circumstances you will I trust excuse the earnest manner in which I urge my present applications.'

Two Autograph Letters Signed to Seymour Teulon.

Author: 
Sir Richard Baggallay
Publication details: 
The first, 1 October 1874, Aldingbourne House, Chichester, but on letterhead '10, Old Square, | Lincolns Inn. W.C.'; the second, 27 August 1874, on letterhead '55, Queen's Gate, S.W.'
£125.00

English judge and Tory politician (1816-88; DNB). Both letters 3 pages, 16mo, and both in good condition. Interesting letters giving his views on an important matter.

Autograph letter signed to Mrs F[rederick W.] Hollams,

Author: 
Richard Everard Webster, Viscount Alverstone
Publication details: 
12 June 1902, Hornton Lodge, Kennington, with embossment of the Royal Courts of Justice.
£40.00

Lord Chief Justice of England (1842-1915). One page, 12mo. Marked "Confidential". "My sister told me of the letter. I have made some enquiries about the man who wrote to you and from what I hear I certainly think you ought not to engage him. You will of course treat this letter as strictly confidential."

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