PBA Galleries

138, cxxviii pp. (8vo) 21x12 cm (8¼x5") original calf boards, re-backed with modern spine with label lettered in gilt, new endpapers.

William Sampson was an Irish Protestant Lawyer known for his defense of religious liberty in Ireland in America. Sampson's most important case in America was in 1813 and is referred to as "The Catholic Question in America". Police investigating the misdemeanor of receiving stolen goods questioned the suspects' priest, the Reverend Mr. Kohlman; he declined to given any information that he had heard in confession. The priest was called to testify at the trial in the Court of General Sessions in the City of New-York; he again declined. The issue whether to compel the testimony was fully briefed and carefully argued on both sides, with a detailed examination of the common law; in the end, the confessional privilege was accepted for the first time in a court of the United States.