Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Vaughan, Rice
VAUGHAN, RICE (fl. 1650), legal writer, was the son and heir of Henry Vaughan of Machynlleth, Montgomeryshire. He was admitted to Gray's Inn on 13 Aug. 1638 (Foster, Register of Admissions to Gray's Inn). In 1651 he published, with a dedication to parliament, ‘A Plea for the Common Laws of England’ (London, 16mo), a pamphlet in answer to ‘A Good Work for a Good Magistrate,’ published by Hugh Peters [q. v.] He died in or shortly before 1672, in which year his ‘Practica Walliæ,’ a guide to the practice of an attorney in the Welsh courts, was published posthumously, London, 12mo.
He was also the author of ‘A Discourse of Coin and Coinage,’ published in 1675 (London, 12mo), and edited by his relative, Henry Vaughan, who is identified in the British Museum ‘Catalogue’ with Henry Vaughan ‘Silurist’ [q. v.] It is a brief but somewhat interesting treatise on the origin of money, the debasement of coinage, and the relations of the precious metals.
[Vaughan's Works in Brit. Mus.]