The Sun.
London, England, 1825-01-04 00:00:00

In the Press,

To be published by BALDWIN, CRADOCK, and JOY,
. London,
A PRACTICAL and E [Alm E,NT ARY
CB- ABRIDGMENT of the CASES argued and deter-
mined in the Courts of KING'S BENCH, COMMON
PLEAS, EXCHEQUER, and at NISI PRIUS • and of
the RULES of COURT, from the Restoration in 1660, to
Michaelmas Term, 4 Geo. IV. With important Manuscript
Cases, Alphabetically, Chronologically, and Systematically
Arranged and Translated ; with copious Notes and Refer-
ences to the Year Books, Analogous Adjudications, Text
Writers, and Statutes, specifying what decisions have been
Affirmed, Recognised, Qualified, or Over-ruled ; comprising
under the several Titles a Practical Treatise on the different.
Branches of the Common Law.

By CHARLES PETERSDORFF, EsQ.
Of the Inner Temple.
A practical and elementary abridgment of the COMMO'
LAW REPORTS, from the period they assumed a useful and
intelligible form, has fur a series of years been an increasing
desideratum.

ttules of Law are never universal. There are always some
limits affixed to their specific application. An acquintance
with the first principles which constitute the basis of our sys-
tem of jurisprudence, without a corresponding knowledge of
the facts and circumstances which gave rise to their establish-
ment and promulgation, has been, therefore, at all times con-
sidered rather a source of difficulty and embarrassment than of
utility to the practitioner. A comprehensive knowledge of the
important qualifications engrafted upon those primary rules,
when applied to particular facts, can alone be attained by con-
sulting either the defusive reports of the cases themselves in
which the doctrines were originally propounded, or those in
which they have been subsequently confirmed, or by having
recourse to a concise yet accurate, abridgment, in which the
material facts, the pleadings, and the judgments, are faith-
fully developed. To practitioners of learning and expe-
rience, who by their constant and regular attendance
in the Courts are acquainted with every new modifi-
cation or extension of the Law produced by each succeeding
decision, the Report Books are the most satisfactory and authen-
tic medium of reference. But to the majority of the profession,
to whom the opportunities of acquiring legal knowledge have
been limited, and whose practice has been circumscribed, no
mode of obtaining information can be more uncertain or delu-
sive than the perusal ofany particular decision unconnected with
the prior or subsequent cases and analogous adjudications.
A knowledge of the peculiar bearing of each case, can at present
be acquired only by =suiting the works of numerous elemen-
tary or text writers, who, from being rigidly obliged to observe
a close condensation of their materials, are necessarily compelled
to class a variety of cases analogous in their leading and predo-
minant facts, but dissimilar in their minor details ; thus ex-
tracting from an accumulated mass of contradictory matter a
general rule of law, without being enabled to explain and illus-
trate its applicability to particular facts, or to point out its
lighter shades of difference when contrasted with cases posses-
sing an apparent similitude.
hut independently of the inconvenience ever attendant upon
such an unqualified classification,, another difficulty impedes
the progress of the inquirer. He cannot, after the perusal of the
works of a text writer, confidently depend that the author has
included all the cases connected with his researches. There is
no pledge that every decision shall be inserted. He gives the re-
sult of his investigations, but not invariably the particular
ground or basis from which Isis inferences and deductions are
derived.

In addition to the elementary writers there is another class of
publications, the Digested Indexes to the Reports, which have
been long held in estimation. But all the works of this de-
scription are on a scale too contracted to render them of mate-
rial assistance, being confined either to a few lteporters, to a
stated period, or to some particular Courts. Nor do they in
general refer to the alterations in the law occasioned by Par.
liamentary enactments, or facilitate an access to the analogous
cases, or show what decisions have been affirmed, recognized,
qualified, or over-ruled. They profess to be Indexes, and aim
at nothing more. They are of little or no value unless
the inquirer has the original Reports in his possession.—
They collect the rules deducible from the judoients of the
Courts, but almost uniformly exclude a statemen of the facts.
They .may be described as possessing all the G ;ectionaUt
characteristics of an elementary treatise, without t, Ncounte,
balancing advantage of the author's sentiments, and al_ rrange.
ment of the cases dtermined during any other period than that
allotted to the particular Index.
It is under these impressions that the work now announced
for publication has been prepared ; and from the increased
business of our Tribunals, and the amplified and extended re-
ports of their proceedings, it is presumed that an attempt to re-
move these obstacles to an acquirement of a competent know-
ledge of the Judgments of our Courts, will be found acceptable
to every branch of the Profession.
A concise statement of the mode in which the materials are
collected and arranged, will perhaps more satisfactorily evince
the expediency of the publication. In detailing the structure of
the work it will be proper to.consider, lit. Its general arrange-
ment and principal divisions. 2dly, The internal or subordi-
nate arrangement of those divisions. 3dly. The manner of ab-
stracting or abridging the judicial determinations.
I. The general arrangement will be alphabetical, practical
utility being the primary obk,ct of the work. Every case will
be inserted under that division, which will conduce to the most
prompt and ready reference, and which will most probably oc-
cur to the mind either of the most experienced or unitiated
member of the Profession.

IL Although the principal divisions will be taken alphabeti-
cally, their internal arranger-vent or subordinate parts will be
framed, and the materials consolidated analytically, according
to the models of the most approved writers upon each particu-
lar subject.
The cases in each subdivision of a title will be inserted chrono•
logically, with the view of more eflectiially -showing and illus-
trating the gradual progress of our judicial polity. Where,
however, a particular class of decisions consist of a variety of
abstracts or abridgments, those most intimately connected will
be arranged so as to render their relative application more
obvious. When the same point has been determined in a se-
ries of cases, the one first mentioned is only abridged, and the
others are referred to as confirmatory of the same principle.—
To increase the value of the work, and add to its general
utility, several distinct species of reference or notes will be
subjoined to each decision.
Ist. A reference to the different books in which the same
case is reported.
A reference to the cases in which the same point has
been determined or affirmed.

3d. A reference to such cases or elementary writers in which
the same rule or principle is recognized or adverted to.
4th. A reference to those cases which are at variance with
the decision abridged, or to such as have expressly over-
ruled it.

sth. A reference to the Acts of Parliament connected with
each case.

6th. A series of copious notes connecting the cases with the
present practice, and explanatory of their general effect ; com-
prising such principles of the law, or essence of the cases, as
axe not included within the scope of the general abridgement.
Thus it has been attempted to make the whole as complete
as possible, so that on the one hand the present practice may
be readily ascertained, whilst, on the other, the ancient adju-
dications will admit of an immediate access. The latter will
explain, elucidate, and exemplify the former ; and the reader
will have in one connected view the various modifications
which the law has undergone.
111. It has been endevoured to frame the abstract of the de-
cisions on a plan simple, plain, and perspicuous. The Re-
ports themselves generally contain a copy of the pleadings, a
full statement of all the facts, the argument of Counsel at
length, and almost every sentence uttered by the several Judges
in pronouncing their opinions. In the present publication so
much only of the pleadings, the facts, and the arguments of
Counsel, will be given as may be necessary to connect the facts
with the decisions of the Courts; and the Judgments will be
compressed into one concise statement, including the most im-
portant observations, unless there be a difference of opinion
on the bench, in which case the individual opinions will be given

seriatim.
The marginal epitomes will be found to contain a concise,
but perfect detail of the essence of the eases, and will be so
arranged as to form distinct and connected treatises on each par.
titular title or division.
To obviate the objection, that an abridgment of the Reports
i s not capable of being referred to with facility in consequence
of the paging not corresponding with the original works, it in

intended to prepare a table of parallel references, by which
means an inquirer will he enabled to discover any case with the
same promptitude and facility as if he had the Report book it-
self in his possession:
With the view of rendering the abridgment as complete a
SUBSTITUTE FOR THE REPORTS as possible, and avoiding
the inconvenience accruing to purchasers from the publication
of new editions, it is proposed to prepare odcssional Supple-
ments.

A list of the works comprised In the body of the abridgment
is subjoined, from which it will appear that all the authentic re-
ports in the period allotted to this publication are included, and
that many of them are extremely scarce and valuable.
On the part of the Publishers no expence will be spared to
bring out the work in the most regular and expeditious manner,
and they pledge themselves for its final completion. It is com-
puted that the work will be comprised in Ten Volumes royal
Bvo., the first to be published in December, 1824, and the others
at regular intervals • and they will be regularly supplied by all
Booksellers in the dountry as well as in London.