The back board is discoloured with a series of blots that may have been caused by liquid spillage; the spine is lightly chipped; page 101 is dogeared at the head, page 227 has been miscut by the printer and the tail's outer edge is creased; page 301 has minor loss to the outer edge, while page 303 has a small extension along the same area, possibly a printer's fault. A clean, solid and unmarked copy. xlii, 324 pages, indexed. "James Joseph Casey (1831-1913), politician and judge,...With Angus Mackay he bought the Bendigo Advertiser; in 1863 the partners also established the McIvor Times and the Riverine Herald......As a lawyer and judge Casey made many improvements in the colony's judicial machinery. He initiated a system of magistrates appointed to districts rather than to the whole of Victoria and published Justice's Manual with the Justices' Statute and Notes Thereon (Melbourne, 1872); its success led to a second edition, co-authored by (Sir) Frank Gavan Duffy (1879). He also edited The Sandhurst Mining By-Laws and his notes clarified technicalities for less competent magistrates. Another result of his methodical mind was the publication of Victorian Parliamentary Debates. Casey's deliberations from the bench 'were always painstaking, clear-headed and prompt' and many of his judgments became legal precedents." (Australian Dictionary of Biography - the entire article is worth reading, e.g. " At the general election in February 1880 he lost his seat, partly because state aid to church schools had become a burning issue and his long opposition to it lost him votes among his fellow-Catholics.")