Thomas Walter Williams - Tarlton Law Library

Williams, Thomas Walter, 1763-1833.

Williams's Law Dictionary : (English Law, 1816)

Thomas Walter Williams, WilliamsTW-1816.jpg

A Compendious And Comprehensive
Law Dictionary, 1816

Thomas Walter Williams was born in London. He was a barrister of the Inner Temple and was called to the bar, but didn't have success as a pleader. He was known instead for his writings. In addition to his dictionary, he wrote abridgments, compiled digests, and authored legal guides for justices of the peace. In 1825 he brought out a new edition of William Sheppard's The Precedent of Precedents.

Williams' dictionary was published during a period when many law dictionaries were being written and published, and most of them did not achieve great success, including this one. The book was only published in one edition. It is a long and dense work, and Williams noted that his aim was to include more words and shorter definitions, less burdened by cumbersome detail, than some of the book's predecessors. Many of the words he included, though, have an apparently questionable relationship with the law; for example: "Sean fish: fish taken with a large and long net, called a sean."

Bibliography

A COMPENDIOUS AND COMPREHENSIVE LAW DICTIONARY, elucidating the terms, and general principles of law and equity. London : Gale and Fenner, 1816. Call # KD 313 W54 1816 (Gift of Joseph D. Jamail, UT Law 1953)