Walter Arthur Copinger

Walter Arthur Copinger (14 April 1847 – 13 March 1910) was an English professor of law, antiquary and bibliographer.

Early life and education Copinger was born on 14 April 1847 at Clapham, the second son of Charles Louis George Emanuel Copinger and his wife Mary, widow of George James, and daughter of Thomas Pearson of Shepperton, Surrey. Educated at the private school of John Andrews at Wellesley House, Brighton, he passed to University College, Durham, but left Durham without completing his course to enter the office of a relative who was a solicitor in London. He did not remain there long. In 1866, he was admitted a student of the Middle Temple, and after spending a short time in the chambers of T. Bourdillon, a well-known conveyancing counsel, he was called to the bar on 26 January 1869. He had mastered the principal treatises of law, and especially the law of real property.

Career In 1870 Copinger settled in Manchester, and commenced practice as an equity draughtsman and conveyancer, and in the chancery court of the county palatine of Lancaster. His work as a conveyancer increased: he ceased to take court work and became the leading conveyancer out of London, also consulted on questions of copyright. He was a lucid legal thinker with facility in drafting, and a vivid teacher to his pupils. After his call to the bar, Copinger turned his attention to the law of copyright, and in 1870 he published a work on the Law of Copyright in Works of Literature and Art (4th edit. 1904). Copinger continued to write on legal subjects, more particularly on conveyancing. In 1872 appeared an exhaustive Index to Precedents in Conveyancing; and in 1875 Title Deeds, their Custody and Production of other Documentary Evidence at Law and Equity. His Law of Rents with special Reference to the Sale of Land in Consideration of a Rent Charge, which was written many years before, was published in 1886, in collaboration with Professor Munro. In 1876 he published An Essay on the Abolition of Capital Punishment, which, to his amusement, was so enthusiastically received by the abolitionists that his intention to publish another pamphlet demolishing all the arguments in the first was abandoned. and wrote Heraldry Simplified, which appeared in the year of his death. His interest in theology was broad, and the work which he valued most of his own writings was a lengthy treatise from his pen on Predestination, Election, and Grace (1889). His other theological writings were: Testimony of Antiquity ... being a Reprint of the Homily by Elfric, edited by himself, 1877; Thoughts on Holiness, Doctrinal and Practical, 1883; Contributions to Hymnody, 1886; The Bible and its Transmission, 1897; a new translation of Imitatio Christi, 1900; and William Law's Serious Call adapted to the Requirements of the Present Day, 1905.

An ardent book-collector, he accumulated a considerable library. It was rich in early printed books, Bibles, manuscripts, and printed editions of the Imitatio Christi, hymn books, Elzevirs, and general works of reference. Works Manors of Suffolk The final volume was compiled by his son, Harold Bernard Copinger (1880 - 1951) The Manors of Suffolk; Notes on their History and Devolution, with some illustrations of the Old Manor Houses, Vol. 1, (1905) London: T. Fisher Unwin (Babergh and Blackbourn Hundred) The Manors of Suffolk; Notes on their History and Devolution, with some illustrations of the Old Manor Houses, Vol. 2 Manchester: Taylor, Garnett, Evans & co. (Blything and Bosmere and Claydon Hundred) The Manors of Suffolk; Notes on their History and Devolution, with some illustrations of the Old Manor Houses, Vol. 3, (1909) Manchester: Taylor, Garnett, Evans & co. (Carlford, Colneis, Cosford and Hartismere Hundred) The Manors of Suffolk; Notes on their History and Devolution, with some illustrations of the Old Manor Houses, Vol. 4 (1909) Manchester: Taylor, Garnett, Evans & co. (Hoxne, Lackford and Loes Hundred) The Manors of Suffolk; Notes on their History and Devolution, with some illustrations of the Old Manor Houses, Vol. 5, (1905) London: T. Fisher Unwin (Mutford and Lothingland, Plomesgate and Risbridge Hundred) The Manors of Suffolk; Notes on their History and Devolution, with some illustrations of the Old Manor Houses, Vol. 6, (1910) Manchester: Taylor, Garnett, Evans & co. (Samford, Colneis, Stow and Thedwastre Hundred) The Manors of Suffolk; Notes on their History and Devolution, with some illustrations of the Old Manor Houses, Vol. 7 (1911) Manchester: Taylor, Garnett, Evans & co. (Thingoe, Thredling, Wangford and Wilford Hundred)