Holthouse, Henry James, fl. 1830-1850.

Holthouse's New Law Dictionary : (American Law, 1847)

A New Law Dictionary, 1847

In the middle of the nineteenth century, before Burrill presented his opus, Henry Holthouse felt that there was room in the law profession for a new dictionary. He desired to create a dictionary of law terms that was to be less encyclopedic in nature than its contemporary long tomes with which he was familiar, and something more up-to-date than the dictionaries of Cowell and Blount. He also wanted to omit what he called "useless words" from his dictionary, words that have no connection with the law, but were found in many law dictionaries nonetheless: he cited "harriers" and "harbour" as examples.

The result is a much shorter, more compact work with no-nonsense definitions. The definitions were written scientifically, offering examples of the usage of the term. It has been considered "one of the best concise Law Dictionaries in use" (Marvin, p. 394), and was published in at least three editions. The American edition has been enlarged with common legal terms in use in the United States, and includes an appendix containing outlines of an action at law and a suit in equity, to further elucidate these proceedings.

John G. Marvin, Legal Bibliography, or a Thesaurus of American, English, Irish, and Scotch Law Books (Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson, 1847).

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