Lectures on the Laws of England, Second Edition Title Page (1776)

What it is

This is the title page of the second edition of Lectures on the Constitution and Laws of England, a book with a commentary on Magna Charta by Francis Stoughton Sullivan. Sullivan died in 1766 and had been royal professor of common law at the University of Dublin. After his death the lectures were edited by Gilbert Stuart. This edition was printed in London in 1776 for Edward and Charles Dilly and Joseph Johnson.

Why it matters

Sullivan's lectures were written centuries after 1215, so they show how a later legal scholar read the charter. The title page also shows that the work was reissued in 1776 with added authorities and a discourse on the laws and government of England, prepared by Gilbert Stuart. Readers of that time still turned to the charter as a source for legal study.

Look closer

• What does the title page promise readers, and which parts of the charter does the book say it will explain?
• Why do you think the title names both a scholar who had died and an editor who prepared the new edition?
• What might a study written long after 1215 leave out about the barons who forced King John to seal the charter?