The Second Part of the Reports of Sir George Croke Knight, late one of the Justices of the Court of Kings-Bench, and formerly one of the Justices of the Court of Common-Bench; of such select cases as were adjudged in the said courts, during the whole Reign of the late King James

Bound in full blind ruled contemporary calf. The spine in six compartments with five raised bands. Contemporary ink lettering to the second compartment from the top. Now somewhat faded. The boards and spine scuffed with some faint scoring, but still in remarkable condition. Corners unsplit, but curled a bit over time.

Internally the portrait mounted incorrectly in the top gutter, (see slideshow), but with only the start of a tear. Probably during the initial binding. The leaves generally clean and without stains. Top margin with the faintest browning.

Per DNB: CROKE, Sir GEORGE (1560–1642), judge and law reporter, younger son of Sir John Croke, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Alexander Unton, and brother of Sir John Croke (1553–1620) [q. v.]

As early as 1581 he began reporting law cases, but does not seem to have acquired any practice before 1588. In 1623 he was made serjeant-at-law and king’s serjeant. The dignity had been refused before, because Croke declined to purchase it on the usual terms (Whitelocke). He was knighted 29 June 1623. On 11 Feb. 1624–5 he became justice of the common pleas, and on 9 Oct. 1628 was removed to the king’s bench to take the place of Sir John Doddridge [q. v.] . In the great constitutional cases which came before him in the following years Croke resisted royal interference with judicial procedure. He, with Hutton, did not sign the collective judgment of his companions on the bench justifying the extension of the ship-money edict to inland towns, but gave a guarded opinion, that ‘when the whole kingdom was in danger the defence thereof ought to be borne by all’ (1635).

On 7 Feb. 1636–7, when the same question was again formally presented to the judges, Croke and Hutton signed the judgment in favour of the crown on the express understanding that the verdict of the majority necessarily bound all. When Hampden was tried for resisting the ship-money tax in 1638, Croke spoke out boldly, and declared that it was utterly contrary to law for any power except parliament to set any charge upon a subject, and that there was no precedent for the prosecution.

His judgment, with his autograph notes, has been edited by Mr. S. R. Gardiner in the Camden Society’s seventh ‘Miscellany’ (1875), from a manuscript belonging to the Earl of Verulam. It was first printed, together with Hutton’s argument, in 1641. In 1641 Croke’s age and declining health compelled him to apply for permission to retire from active service on the bench. The request was granted, and his title and salary were continued to him. He withdrew to his estate at Waterstock, Oxfordshire, where he died 16 Feb. 1641–2. An elaborate monument was erected above his grave in Waterstock Church.

Croke’s reports, extending over sixty years (1580–1640), were written in Norman-French, and were translated into English for publication by Sir Harbottle Grimston, his son-in-law. A selection of cases heard while Croke himself was judge was published in 1657. The earlier reports appeared in two volumes, published respectively in 1659 and 1661. Collected editions were issued in 1683 and 1790–2 (3 vols.) An abridgment appeared in 1658 and 1665. Grimston’s prefaces give Croke a high character.