The American trader's compendium: containing the laws, customs, and regulations of the United States, relative to commerce. Including the most useful precedents adapted to general business
(This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)
This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for kindle devices. We have endeavoured to create this version as close to the original artefact as possible. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we believe they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
Synopsis of mercantile laws: With an appendix : containing the most approved forms of notarial and commercial precedents, special and common, required in the daily transaction of business
An Authentic Account Of The Late Expedition To Bulam, On The Coast Of Africa (1794)
(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
A Commercial Dictionary Containing the Present State of Mercantile Law, Practice, and Custom Intended for the Use of the Cabinet, the Counting-House and the Library (Classic Reprint)
Trader's & Manufacturer's Compendium: Containing the Laws, Customs, & Regulations, Relative to Trade Volume 1-2
(This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)
This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for kindle devices. We have endeavoured to create this version as close to the original artefact as possible. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we believe they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
Joshua Montefiore was an American lawyer, soldier, and author.
Background
Joshua Vita Montefiore was born on August 7, 1762, in London, England, the sixth son in a family of seventeen. His father, Moses Haim (or Vita) Montefiore, had emigrated in 1758 from Leghorn, Italy, where his ancestors had been merchants of standing in the Jewish community. There Moses had been married to Ester Hannah Racah, daughter of a Moorish merchant. Most of the children of this union became identified with mercantile enterprises in various quarters of the globe. Joshua's roystering and free-hearted disposition unfitted him for a one-track life, and his career, though less prosperous, was much more colorful.
Education
At eighteen, Montefiore began the study of law and in 1784, he was admitted as an attorney and a solicitor in chancery by Sir William Scott.
Career
Late in 1791, a group of naval officers and London merchants formed a society for the colonization of the island of Bulama, on the African coast near Sierra Leone. Moses Ximenes, a prominent Jew, was a director in the enterprise, and Montefiore became a subscriber. When in the spring of 1792 the 275 colonists set sail, Montefiore and his wife were members of the party. From the start the expedition was ill-starred. Disease and lack of discipline brought the colonists to their destination in bad humor. A hasty occupation of the island without negotiating with the natives for its purchase led to a raid in which lives were lost and many prisoners captured. Montefiore advocated a policy of negotiation and purchase and took an active part in the defense of the party. Having fallen ill, he was discharged at his own request in June 1792. Thereafter he traveled for a time among the tribes in Sierra Leone, and then returned home. In 1794, Montefiore published a tract entitled An Authentic Account of the late Expedition to Bulam, on the Coast of Africa; with a Description of the Present Settlement of Sierra Leone, and the Adjacent Country. The bulk of his published writings, however, concerned his legal interests. These included a commercial dictionary, compendiums of mercantile and commercial law, and copyright law, and traders' manuals. They gave in convenient form extracts from tariffs and other commercial regulations, notes on judicial opinions, and short articles on commercial law. Since they were principal of contemporary importance, they were in time out-dated and superseded. From Montefiore's family Bible, which besides being his spiritual guide was also his notebook, it appears that "on the 3rd March 1803, he was, by order of King George III, presented by Lord Boston to His Majesty, " and that he was offered and declined the order of knighthood. He did seek a commission in the army and is said to have been the first of his race to have this mark of favor. The Army List shows that he was paymaster of the York Light Infantry Volunteers from about 1807 to January 30, 1812. During this service, he was present at the taking of Martinique and Guadeloupe. On resigning from the army he emigrated to America where he practiced law and published other volumes on commercial law.
On his deathbed, he wrote from memory a translation of the Hebrew burial service. This was read as he had wished, and he was buried in his garden at St. Albans.
Achievements
Montefiore participated in an unsuccessful expedition in 1791 to establish a British colony without slave labor off the west coast of Africa, near Sierra Leone, an adventure he described in An Authentic Account of the Late Expedition to Bulam (1794). Montefiore allegedly declined a knighthood and was the first Jew to hold the rank of captain in the British army. Around 1810 he went to the United States, pursued the practice of law, and for a time edited a New York weekly political journal, Men and Measures, said to have been subsidized by the British government. Montefiore compiled a number of useful lay guides to commercial law which sold briskly in England and the U. S. , including Law of Copyright (1802), Commercial Dictionary (1803; first U. S. , ed. , 1811), Traders and Manufacturers Compendium (1804), American Traders Compendium (1811), and Commercial and Notarial Precedents (1804).
One characteristic of the author was his propensity for dedicating his works to various eminent judges. Eventually, he settled at St. Albans, Vermont.
Connections
Joshua was married three times: Esther Supino (1785-1787) in London; Isabella (maiden name unknown- 1820s in NYC), and Elizabeth Capitola Maher (late 1820s in NYC). He had two children with Isabella; and seven with Elizabeth (Charlotte, Eloisa, Etta, Lydia, Horatio, Maria and Joseph).
