[LAW.] The Duke of Norfolk’s Case: or the doctrine of perpetuities fully set forth and explain’d. Being the learned arguments and opinions of the right honourable the Earl of Nottingham, late Lord High Chancellor of England … Together with the final decretal order of the House of Peers on behald of the honourable Charles Howard Esq. [London: s.n.] 1688.
Folio. Facsimile printed paper wrappers, sprinkled edges; pp. [4], 31, [1 (blank)], 32, [2]; leaves numbered in ink ‘23-57’, suggesting it was extracted from a sammelband of legal documents; a few small nicks to front wrapper; trimmed a little close at foot, occasional light foxing, but overall very good.
First edition of this legal treatise addressing the landmark judgment by the House of Lords, which established the common law rule against perpetuities.
The rule against perpetuities prevents a person from imposing conditions in a deed or a will that could influence property ownership long after their death, a concept often referred to as control by the ‘dead hand’ or ‘mortmain’. The principle was rooted on the belief that tying up property for an extended period beyond the owner’s lifetime was unjust, although the exact duration was not defined until the case of Cadell v. Palmer in 1883.
The Duke of Norfolk’s Case (1682) 3 Ch Cas 1; 22 ER 931, concerning the inheritance of the children and grandchildren of Henry Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel (1608-1652), was decided on 26 February 1677. While a 1685 pamphlet titled The Case of the Duke of Norfolk had already covered the matter, this 1688 folio was the first to formally identify it as the ‘rule against perpetuities,’ the term still in use today. The treatise comprises a preliminary statement, the arguments and opinions of the judges and the Lord Chancellor, and the decretal order of the House of Lords.
ESTC R17683
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