Cunningham, Timothy, d. 1789.
Cunningham's Law-dictionary : English Law
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Law-dictionary, 1764 |
Cunningham was a prolific writer who, in addition to his dictionary, wrote a history of the Inns of Court, an introduction to English law and its constitution, a set of case reports, and a book on negotiable instruments and insurances, among other works. He stated in his preface that he intended to "comprise, therefore, in a narrow compass, the substance of what is contained in a multiplicity of volumes." For, he wrote, "The vast number of volumes of all kinds, in which the laws of England lie dispersed, not only requires more time and application to obtain a competent knowledge of, than most people can bestow, but likewise a greater expence to purchase than they can afford." With his work, he hoped to make most of those volumes unnecessary.
Following Jacob's lead, his dictionary attempted to give an account of the whole law, extending the dictionary to two volumes in length and leading to great confusion with its indexing. The volumes are extremely dense and it is difficult to page through and find the desired term. Largely because of the difficulties encountered in Cunningham's work, the eighteenth century tendency to state the whole law in one dictionary was abandoned by the nineteenth century. Definitions grew more concise, and a clear distinction was again made between the dictionary and its accompanying abridgment.
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