The Road Rights and Liabilities of Wheelmen, written by
George B. Clementson at the height of the
bicycle's golden age, in 1895, was the first
treatise on
bicycle law. In the 1880s and 1890s, the prevailing legal issue
cyclists (or wheelmen as they were then called) faced was the question of the right to the road. In a series of seminal right to the road cases, cyclists gained legal rights that form the basis of cyclist's legal rights today. Although bicycle law has developed substantially since 1895,
The Road Rights and Liabilities of Wheelmen continues to serve as an outstanding resource for those early right to the road cases.
References
The Road Rights and Liabilities of Wheelmen, by George B. Clementson (Chicago: Callaghan & Co., 1895)