Census of Law Books in Colonial Virginia

William Hamilton Bryson, University of Richmond

Abstract

Of all professionals, lawyers are the most dependent upon books. All of their resource material is in written form. To know the level, the quality of the practicing bar, the bench, legal studies, and legal scholarship in general, one must know the books upon which they are founded. Therefore, this census of law books was undertaken in order to know a little better the legal life of colonial Virginia.