Jamail Center for Legal Research
Tarlton Law Library

Tayler, Thomas, fl. 1833-1843.

Tayler's Law Glossary : American Law, English Law

Advertisement for The Law Glossary, 1819

Thomas Tayler was a member of Clement's Inn, London, and a respected solicitor, and when he wrote his dictionary, his colleagues expected it to be authoritative. However, in spite of the fact that Tayler's dictionary had been endorsed and recommended by two distinguished judges and several other attorneys, it was instead found, in a lengthy review of the second edition in The American Jurist and Law Magazine (1834, v. 12, pp. 248-270), to abound in "barefaced ignorance and absurdity." The reviewers were critical of the entire work, stating that Tayler has mistranslated and misconceived wherever possible, and "shows sheer ignorance of all the law - the common, civil, and French, as well as of the Latin and French languages." The reviewers showed convincing evidence that Tayler cribbed almost all of his notes and preface from Alexander Adam's Roman Antiquities, and suggested that readers "may enjoy a considerable part of Mr. Adam's excellent work in Mr. Tayler's pages." The review concluded that those who recommended the work, including Chief Justice John Savage of the New York Supreme Court, should be subjected to "some kind of trial."

Despite this scathing review, the dictionary was quite popular, exhausting many editions and several reprints in the nineteenth century, with corrections and revisions (for example, by the third edition, editors removed some of the obvious plagiarism of Adam's work).

Bibliography

1. A LAW GLOSSARY OF THE LATIN, GREEK, NORMAN, FRENCH, AND OTHER LANGUAGES : interspersed in the Commentaries by Sir W. Blackstone, knt. and various law treatises upon each branch of the profession. London : Printed for W. Clarke and Sons, Law Booksellers, Portugal-Street, Lincoln's Inn, 1819. CALL # K 54 T39 1819
   
   
2. A LAW GLOSSARY OF THE LATIN, GREEK, NORMAN, FRENCH, AND OTHER LANGUAGES : interspersed in the Commentaries by Sir W. Blackstone, knt. and various law treatises upon each branch of the profession. London : Printed for J. and W. T. Clarke, 1823. CALL # K 54 T39 1823 (Gift of Joseph D. Jamail, UT Law 1953)
   
   
3. THE LAW GLOSSARY : being a selection of the Greek, Latin, Saxon, French, Norman, and Italian sentences, phrases and maxims, found in the works of Lord Coke, Shower, Peere Williams, Sir William Blackstone, Sir Francis Buller, Vezey, Chancellor Kent, Reeves, Durnford and East, Taunton, Sellon, Johnson, Cowen, Sugden, Preston, Bosanquet, Starkie, Tidd, Phillips, Chitty, Moore, Wendell, and numerous other law writers : with historical and explanatory notes ... Albany, N.Y. : W. & A. Gould, 1833. CALL # K 54 T39 1833 (Gift of William Stewart Simkins, UT law professor 1899-1929)
   
   
4. THE LAW GLOSSARY : being a selection of the Greek, Latin, Saxon, French, Norman and Italian sentences, phrases, and maxims, found in the leading English and American reports, and elementary works. 3rd ed., rev. and corr. New York : Gould, Banks ; Albany : Wm. & A. Gould, 1845. CALL # K 54 T39 1845
   
   
5. THE LAW GLOSSARY : being a selection of the Greek, Latin, Saxon, French, Norman and Italian sentences, phrases, and maxims found in the leading English and American reports, and elementary works : with historical and explanatory notes. 4th ed., rev., corr. and enl. / by a member of the New York Bar. New York : Lewis & Blood, 1855. CALL # K 54 T39 1855
   
   
6. THE LAW GLOSSARY : being a selection of the Greek, Latin, Saxon, French, Norman, and Italian sentences, phrases, and maxims found in the leading English and American reports and elementary works : with historical and explanatory notes. 8th ed., rev., corr. and enl. / by a member of the New York Bar. New York : Baker, Voorhis, 1868. CALL # K 54 T39 1868
   
   
7. THE LAW GLOSSARY : being a selection of the Greek, Latin, Saxon, French, Norman and Italian sentences, phrases, and maxims found in the leading English and American reports and elementary works : with historical and explanatory notes. 9th ed., rev., corr., and enl. / by a member of the New York Bar. New York : Baker, Voorhis, 1875. CALL # K 54 T39 1875
   
   
8. THE LAW GLOSSARY : being a selection of the Greek, Latin, Saxon, French, Norman and Italian sentences, phrases, and maxims, found in the leading English and American reports, and elementary works, with historical and explanatory notes. 9th ed., rev., corr., and enl. / by a member of the New York Bar. New York : Baker, Voorhis & Co., 1889. CALL # K 54 T39 1889
   
   

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