The extent of the holdings in the Faculty of Advocates library, great though it is, is rather misleading, since such libraries refuse or dispose of many duplicate copies. Much more to the point is the frequency with which one comes across seventeenth-century Dutch legal works in Scottish private libraries. As an indication of a Scottish connection with Huber and his work I should mention that my own copy of the fourth edition of his Positiones juris (Franeker, ) (which was formerly in the Minto library) is inscribedFranequerae Octob: . Empt. fl. viz g b li stirl. Ex mandato Authoris professoris miei (Franeker October . Bought for florins, i.e. pounds sterling, on the ins-tructions of the author, my professor); and below, Incepi Relegere in feriis Jun. (I began to reread in the vacation, June ). The provenance of the volume plus the translation of the price from Dutch florins into pounds sterling make it very likely that the purchaser was a Scottish student of Huber at Franeker. In contrast, even at the present time the British Library does not seem to have a copy of Positiones juris. Again, my edition of Huber’s Praelectiones juris romani et hodierni, which was also formerly in the Minto library is dated: the earliest edition in the British Library is dated.152 In this field of conflict of laws, Huber was always likely to dominate in a distant, foreign, country where there was a tradition of relying upon Dutch authority. To begin with, in contrast to Paulus Voet, Huber placed his treatment of the subject in an elementary textbook, lectures on the Digest; and in a prominent place, at that. This is precisely the kind of book students would buy, take home, and use when needed. Paulus Voet’s treatment was in a specialist book on its own, De statutis eorumque concursu, and consequently rarely brought back to Scotland. I have found no reference to Paulus Voet in the 152 The National Library of Scotland has part 3 of Huber’sPraelectiones, published at Franeker, 1690; and the whole work, Leipzig, 1707, and Louvain, 1766. Of this work, Edinburgh University Library has editions of 1735 (Leipzig) and 1749 (Frankfurt). Of thePositiones, the National Library has the Leipzig edition of 1685, Edinburgh University Library has the Franeker edition of 1710.
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