Volume 108 Issue 4 Dickinson Law Review - Volume 108, 2003-2004 3-1-2004 Chancellor Kent's Abridgment of Emerigon's Maritime Insurance Charles E. Shields III Follow this and additional works at: https://ideas.dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/dlra Recommended Citation Charles E. Shields III, Chancellor Kent's Abridgment of Emerigon's Maritime Insurance, 108 DICK. L. REV. 1123 (2004). Available at: https://ideas.dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/dlra/vol108/iss4/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews at Dickinson Law IDEAS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dickinson Law Review by an authorized editor of Dickinson Law IDEAS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Chancellor Kent's Abridgment of Emerigon's Maritime Insurance Charles E.Shields III* It was the author's recent good fortune to have purchased a bound volume of several sets of notes made by Chancellor Kent.' The volume consists of three separate items, which are tightly bound together in a small custom-made book. The pages measure almost precisely 10.5 centimeters by 17.5 centimeters, and for the most part the writing is in a legible and strong hand. The first of the three items is marked by Kent: "Notes taken from Emerigon on Insurance. In August, September & October 1804." This * J.D., The Dickinson School of Law, 1983; M.A., Shippensberg State College, 1977; B.S., Shippensburg State College, 1972. The author is indebted to and would like to specially thank James Fox, Mark W. Podvia, and the rest of the always helpful staff at the Library of the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University for their always kind and courteous help; Shane Crosby and Thomas Fowler for help in obtaining copies of assorted cases and articles; Jerry Dupont, of the Law Library Microform Consortium; Lionel Epstein; John Rees; Peter Glose, of William S. Hein & Co.; Joe Luttrell, of Meyer Boswell Books; James McCue, of Hudson House Associates; Robert Rubin; Fenn Quigley and Deborah Nelson of Primary Source Microfilm, Research Publications; Amoud Gerrits, of Gerrits & Sons, all of whom have kept the author continually supplied with many fine books; Maxine Rhoads for extremely prompt and good help with typing; Robert Glentzer and Abram Burnett for their persistent help with citations and footnotes; Charles Donahue, Jr., of the Harvard Law School faculty, for his help in tracking down several items on the great and famous case of Pierson v. Post; and especially Victor Tunkel, Secretary to the Selden Society, who has been a constant source of help, encouragement, and inspiration. 1. For the typed manuscript of the handwritten materials, see Appendix: James Kent's Notes on Emerigon, 108 PENN ST. L. REv. 1219 (2004). Greg Talbot, of the Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 33 Terminal Avenue, Clark, New Jersey 07066, was kind enough to sell me both the bound manuscripts and a magnificent and nearly pristine copy of the first edition of Emerigon's Treatise on Insurance. The full title is Traite Des Assurances Et Des Contrats A La Grosse, by Jean Mossy, and is in two volumes published in Marseille in 1783. A second edition under the title Traite Des Assurances Et Des Contrats A La Grosse D'Emerigon, Confere Et Mis En Rapport Avec Le Nouveau Code De Commerce Et La Jurisprudence; Suivi D'un Vocabulaire Des Termes De Marine Et Des Noms De Chague Partie D'un Navire, was edited by P. S.Boulay-Paty, and published in two volumes in Paris in 1827. Both of these editions are in the possession of the author. Hereinafter, the first edition by Jean Mossy will be cited as "Emerigon." 1123 1124 PENN STATE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 108:4 consists of nearly 100 pages and is so extensive as to constitute an Abridgment of Emerigon's two-volume work on Insurance. This is followed by a series of notes on the "Law as to negotiable Paper," which are divided into several subheadings. Each subheading contains concise extracts and statements of leading legal principles from a goodly number of court cases, the majority of which are English. This second item consists of approximately forty pages and can be considered a modified form of a commonplace book. The third item is a series of notes listing Kent's volumes of pamphlets. There are 140 volumes listed in all, with the pamphlet titles listed as abbreviations rather than in full. The number of pamphlets bound into each volume varies from in excess of twenty to five or less. The author has prepared a typed copy of the first item, Kent's Abridgment of Emerigon, and offers it to the legal profession and to scholars at large as a payment in small part of that debt which every lawyer owes to his profession and his almae matrae. The second and thirds items-the notes on negotiable paper and the inventory of the volumes of pamphlets-will be published in the future. Neither Kent nor the Abridgment will need any introduction for legal scholars or lawyers well versed in maritime law. It is hoped, however, that it will have some interest for students and general practitioners who wish to broaden their knowledge of the law and legal history. Some reasonable amount of knowledge of maritime law, in general, and maritime insurance law in particular, will help any lawyer who wishes to obtain a broader and more polished understanding of the 2. "If these, or any other of my works, may, in any sort (by the goodness of Almighty God, who hath enabled me thereunto), tend to some discharge of that great obligation of duty wherein I am bound to my profession.... I shall reap some fruits of the tree of life; for my desire shall be accomplished, and I shall receive sufficient recompense for all my labours for their true and final end shall be effected." JOHN FARQUHAR FRASER, THE SIXTH PART OF THE REPORTS OF SIR EDWARD COKE, xviii-xix (London, Butterworth 1826). Bacon wrote: I hold every man a debtor to his profession: from the which, as men of course do seek to receive countenance and profit, so ought they of duty to endeavour themselves, by way of amends, to be a help and an ornamentt thereunto. This is performed in some degree by the honest and liberal practice of a profession, when men shall carry a respect not to descend into any course that is corrupt and unworthy thereof, and preserve themselves free from the abuses wherewith the same profession is noted to be infected: but much more is this performed, if a man be able to visit and strengthen the roots and foundation of the science itself; thereby not only gracing it in reputation and dignity, but also amplifying it in profession and substance. IV THE WORKS OF FRANCIS BACON 10 (London, Baynes & Son 1824). "I thought good to mention, in remembrance of my love and duty almae matri academiae .. " I SIR EDWARD COKE, THE FIRST PART OF THE INSTITUTES OF THE LAWS OF ENGLAND: OR, A COMMENTARY UPON LITTLETON 109b (Charles Butler ed., 18th ed. London, J.& W.T. Clarke 1823). 2004] CHANCELLOR KENT'S ABRIDGMENT 1125 old "seamless web."3 It is only with the utmost diffidence that the author undertakes to provide some background information for the benefit of law students and general practitioners who may be only vaguely familiar with the subjects at hand. The author, a full-time real estate/estates attorney, must of necessity beg the reader's indulgence and attempt to navigate successfully between the Scylla and Charybdis of fatigue and haste. It is necessary, therefore, that the introduction be more cursory than exhaustive. So far as the author may be permitted to do so, he wishes to dedicate this publication and its introduction to Professor John Maher. Professor Maher, a man of high and exalted talents, has chosen to use his talents in the pursuit of teaching excellence. An excellence he has fully attained. 3. A very good, concise, but full introduction to maritime law was prepared by Professor William Tetley, of McGill University. William Tetley, Maritime Law as a Mixed Legal System, 23 TUL. MAR. L.J. 317 (1999). There are a number of hornbooks on admiralty insurance law that are generally helpful. An excellent introduction to maritime insurance law as it existed during Kent's era can be found in 2 JULIUS GOEBEL, JR., THE LAW PRACTICE OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON: DOCUMENTS AND COMMENTARY 391 (1969). A working history of insurance in general can be obtained from reading: PETER L. BERNSTEIN, AGAINST THE GODS, THE REMARKABLE STORY OF RISK (1996); C.F. TRENERRY, THE ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OF INSURANCE INCLUDING THE CONTRACT OF BOTTOMRY (1926); Insurance, in 14 ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA 656 (11 th ed. 1910); Lloyd's of London, in 16 ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA 883 (1 1th ed. 1910); Insurance, in 2 WILLIAM HENRY HALL, THE NEW ROYAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA: OR COMPLETE MODERN UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES (London n.d.); E. Chambers, Insurance, in 2 CYCLOPAEDIA; OR, AN UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES (London 1779); Insurance, in 2 ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA; OR, A DICTIONARY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, COMPILED UPON A NEW PLAN 844 (Edinburgh 1771). A good basic knowledge of the legal development of insurance can be obtained by reading, inter alia, the following: WILLIAM A. HOLDSWORTH, 1 A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LAW 526-73 (7th ed., rev. 1956); WILLIAM A. HOLDSWORTH, 5 A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LAW 11-12, 59-154 (3d. ed. 1945); WILLIAM A. HOLDSWORTH, 6 A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LAW 302-07, 333-38, 624, 634-36 (2d ed.