The Laws of Liberty and Property [1734]

Principles that Moved the Leaders of the American RevolutionThe Laws of Liberty and Property acts as a concise historical outline of individual rights spanning from the Magna Carta to the Habeas Corpus Act. It serves as a foundational expression of the radical Whig principles that would later animate the intellectual framework of the American Revolution.Jacob breaks the text down into vital legal themes including "Crimes Against the King and the Subject," "Civil Rights and Liberties," "Forfeitures," and "Pardons." Crucially, the volume concludes with an analysis of six distinct parliamentary acts "infringing upon Public Liberty."Giles Jacob (1686-1744) was the preeminent and most prolific British legal writer of the early eighteenth century. Greatly influenced by the political philosophy of John Locke, Jacob operated under the idealist conviction that clarifying and simplifying the language of law would safeguard the rights of everyday citizens against tyranny.Jacob's texts were widely exported to the American colonies, heavily read by early American lawyers, and directly informed the colonial legal arguments regarding the "rights of Englishmen" during the imperial crises of the 1760s and 1770s. [xii], 118 pp.