Rare first and only edition of the first Australian treatise on bankruptcy. While in Australia, Burton attempted to ameliorate the harsh treatment of convicts at Norfold Island, where he was sent in 1834 "to try some convicts who had mutinied". Many were sentenced to death, but as no clergy were on the island, Burton reprieved them until their cases could go before the executive council. He endeavoured also with some success to improve the miserable condition of the convicts.
Pencil note on recto first fly-leaf; spine rubbed. Fine copy presented by the author to R.C. Burton, dated 1842. Ferguson 3372; Sweet & Maxwell VI, p. 11.