SAMPSON AGAINST THE PHILISTINES, OR THE REFORMATION OF LAWSUITS; AND JUSTICE MADE CHEAP, SPEEDY, AND BROUGHT HOME TO EVERY MAN'S DOOR: AGREEABLY TO THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ANCIENT TRIAL BY JURY, BEFORE THE SAME WAS INNOVATED BY JUDGES AND LAWYERS. COMPILED FOR THE USE OF THE HONEST CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES. TO WHOM IT IS DEDICATED. THE SECOND EDITION.
Philadelphia: Printed by B. Graves, for W. Duane, 1805. 96pp, bound in modern calf, with gilt-lettered title stamped on front cover. Lightly toned, else Very Good. Someone has written the name of Jesse Higgins on the title page as the purported author; this is probably incorrect.
The second edition, published in the same year as the first. "Mr. Sampson was the first in our country to fix public attention on the subject of legal reform. In this cause he laboured assiduously for many years...His invectives, however, against the Common Law, were often injudicious, and indiscriminately severe, and his love of ridicule frequently took the place of prudence, of reason, and of useful learning." Marvin. This Irish emigrant was a lawyer who "achieved high rank chiefly through his eloquence and his vigorous advocacy of personal rights." DAB. His object is, the author says, "to expose to full view the prodigious evil of our jurisprudence, to shew the absurdity of common law, and to suggest a competent remedy for that evil," by cutting back the power of judges and lawyers.
Sabin 75924. Gaines 05-29. Marvin 627 [citing only this edition]. II Harv. Law Cat. 522. AI 9307 [3]. Item #30138
Price: $150.00