Legal and Law Related Works, Some Serious, Others Not So Much

Returning to more erudite topics, item 26 is The Federal and Confederate Constitutions, For the Use of Government Officers, And for the People, published in 1862. It provides a comparison of the two constitutions, their being run in parallel columns, with differences noted. The Confederate Constitution was based on its U.S. counterpart, but with some important differences. It provided more authority to the individual states, less for the confederate government. It provided for a six-year, single-term president. However, as one might expect, the most notable differences pertained to slavery. While not using the word, it made it clear that property rights in humans was the law, and no new state could join the confederacy unless it agreed to permit human slavery. $650.

Item 48 is a long, but interesting title for legal jurisprudence: The Right of a State to Grant Exclusive Privileges, In Roads, Bridges, Canals, Navigable Waters, &c. Vindicated; By a Candid Examination of the Current Grant from the State of New York to, and Contract with Robert R. Livingston and Robert Fulton, for the Exclusive Navigation of Vessels...On the Waters of Said State... Legal scholars will immediately recognize this pertains to the issues in one of the most important early Supreme Court cases, Gibbons v. Ogden, decided in 1824. However, this pamphlet was published in 1811, and if Fulton and Livingston's monopoly was “vindicated” in 1811, it certainly was not when the Supreme Court reached its verdict in 1824. New York State had granted the two an exclusive right to operate steamships on the Hudson, but this would later be challenged by a New Jersey operator. He was denied permission by the state of New York to operate his ships, but on appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, the state mandated monopoly was overturned. The federal government, the Court ruled, has the exclusive authority, under the Constitution, to regulate commerce. $1,200.

Item 117 is The Criminal Recorder, Or, Biographical Sketches of Notorious Characters: Including Murderers, Traitors, Pirates, Mutineers, Incendiaries, Defrauders, Rioters, Sharpers, Highwaymen, Footpads, Pickpockets, Swindlers, Housebreakers... and so on. Some of these terms are a bit outdated. “Footpads” are thieves who specialize in attacking pedestrians, not something Dr. Scholl sells to insert in your shoes. This is more a sensationalized account of crime than a legalistic one. Its described purpose was “a warning to youth” and as a “useful book of reference,” but more likely it was meant to appeal to the National Enquirer audience of its day. It contains four volumes, published from 1804-1809, with most containing criminal biographies, but volume 3 focused on crimes and punishment in non-Western cultures. The set also includes 40 plates, such as the gruesome depictions of eastern punishments shown in the image on this page. $950.