Originally published: Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1859. 2 Vols. xlv, 780; xlviii, 871 pp. Reprint of the first edition. This impressive treatise was a landmark work because it was the first to consider the law of shipping, the law of marine insurance and the law and practice of admiralty as interconnected aspects of maritime law. It also includes an extensive list of United States statutes relating to commercial and maritime matters and the rules of practice for United States Courts of Admiralty and Maritime jurisdiction. In sum, this work offers an unparalleled contemporary overview of the subject by one of the most important American legal scholars of the period. Theophilus Parsons [1797-1882], Dane Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, was the author of The Law of Contracts (1857), The Elements of Mercantile Law (1865), A Treatise on the Law of Partnership (1867), A Treatise on the Law of Shipping and the Law and Practice of Admiralty (1869) and other works. His father, Theophilus Parsons (senior), was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.