Thomas Branch (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1738–1753), was a British author. His ''Principia Legis et Æquitatis'' was regarded as "the accumulated spirit and wisdom of ... the English law."

Life

Nothing is known of Branch's life, but if the "lady of Thomas Branch, Esq." in the obituary of the ''

Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...

'' for December 1769 was his wife, it may be presumed that he was still alive at that time.

Works

Branch was the author of ''Thoughts on Dreaming'' (1738), and ''Principia Legis et Æquitatis'' (1753). ''Thoughts on Dreaming'' was a response to

Andrew Baxter Andrew Baxter (1686/1687, Aberdeen23 April 1750, Whittingehame, East Lothian) was a Scottish metaphysician. Life Baxter was educated at King's College, University of Aberdeen. He maintained himself by acting as tutor to noblemen's sons. From 1 ...

's ''Enquiry into the Nature of the Human Soul'' (1733), in which Branch refuted Baxter's argument that dreams are the work of supernatural agents. ''Principia Legis et Æquitatis'' was a collection of maxims, definitions, and remarkable sayings about law and equity, mostly in Latin, presented in alphabetical order. Several editions were published, including an enlarged fifth edition of 1822, which gave translations of the Latin, and an American edition of 1824. It was highly thought of as a student's textbook.

James Kent James Kent may refer to: *James Kent (jurist) (1763–1847), American jurist and legal scholar * James Kent (composer) (1700–1776), English composer *James Kent, better known as Perturbator, French electronic/synthwave musician *James Tyler Kent ...

in his ''Commentaries on American Law'' (1832), described it as "an admirable ''vade mecum'', for the use of the bench and the bar", adding that "It draws so copiously from the common law reports and writers of the age of Elizabeth, and since that time, that it may be regarded as the accumulated spirit and wisdom of the great body of the English law."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Branch, Thomas Year of birth missing Year of death missing 18th-century British writers English legal writers