[Massachusetts] 4to in tooled calf boards. Boston, 1742, with added sections through 1748, printed by Kneeland and Green. Includes: The Charter Granted by their Majesties King William and Queen Mary to the Inhabitants of the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England. And Acts and Laws, of His Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England. 384pp. These were the governing statutes of the Bay colony, and include matters relating to schools, ferries, fences, the killing of wolves, firefighting, intemperance and immorality, "Relief of Idiots and Distracted Persons," as well as the usual taxes, debt, registration of births and deaths, prisons, etc. One of the last laws included in this volume prohibits anyone from inheriting Indian lands from a Last Will and Testament, apparently one clandestine way to steal lands: get written into an Indian Will.
Condition: Wear to leather, old vellum repair to spine, expected foxing and toning, possibly missing a few rear pages.