A Guide to the Law Lectures of Saint George Tucker, 1792 ca.
A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Barcode Number 1128172
Library of Virginia
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© 2003 By the Library of Virginia.
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Preferred Citation
Law Lectures of Saint George Tucker, 1792 ca. Local Government Records Collection, Lancaster County Court Records, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Acquisition Information
This item came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from Lancaster County.
Biographical and Historical Information
Saint George Tucker (1752-1827) was an eminent Virginia jurist during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He was Professor of Law at William and Mary College, General Court Judge of Richmond, Virginia Court of Appeals justice, and Federal District Court judge.
Saint George Tucker's lectures on the United States Constitution and slavery in Virginia were the source material for two publications written by Tucker. The first was a pamphlet published in 1796 entitled "A Dissertation on Slavery: With A Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it in the State of Virginia." The second was a commentary on the United States Constitution published in 1803 entitled "A View of the Constitution." It was the first extended critical interpretation of the Constitution after its ratification.
Scope and Content Information
Volume two of the lectures of William and Mary College Law professor Saint George Tucker written perhaps by Tucker or one of his students sometime between 1792 and 1796. They provide a critical interpretation of the powers granted to the three branches of government by the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, and of various legal issues pertinent to Virginia including rules of inheritance, trial by jury, land Laws, and the state of slavery. Volume one is missing.