The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-10-24
ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW AND
EOVTEVrK

]
/ y and cheapy furnished to the legal profession In
this country, has long been seriously felt and ac-
/ knowledged To meet a similar want in England,
/ the "Lato Journal Reports" and "The JdriSt, "
which, together report decisions in all the Courts ia
LGIu and Equity, within few weeks after their
/ delivery, were commenced number OF years
since, and have met with the universal approba-
ton OF the legal profession. Their high cost, how
ever, has hitherto prevented their general circu-
lation in this country, and their merits arc as yet
but little known among US.
The subscribers propose to republish these re-
ports in full fast as they appear in England and
can be received here. They will contain reports
of cases decided in the House of Lords, the Prvy
Council, the several Courts of Equity, the Court OF
Queens Bench, the Court of Common Pleas, the
Court of Exchequer and Exchequer Chamber, the
Ecclesiastical and Admiralty Courts, the Court of
Bankruptcy, including also the Election cases, the
Crown Cases Reserved, and the Railway and Canal
Cases.
These reports will be published in numbers or
parts, commencing with the decsions of Michael
mas (November) term, 1850, and will be carefully
edited by member of the bar, with notes and re-
ferences to analogous American decisions.
Each number will consist of over three hundred
pages closely printed octave, the best paper, and
IN clear, fair type, and will contain table oil cases,
and full table of contents, thus forming com
plete volume by itself, as well part of an en-
tire series. Every alternate second number will
be PACED consecutively from the number lmme-
diatey preceding, and will contain table OF cases,
and of contents to both, and thus form complete
In each volume the of the several courts will
be found arranged together, and, in point of style
and typographical execution, this series will be
fully equal TO the best reports OF England or this
country.
tits designed TO make this PERMANENT PUBL
CATION, and thus establish netc series of English
Law and Equity Reports, which shall, in all re-
spects, be far in advance OF any other reprint OF
English Reports in this country, and which shall
furnish to the American lawyer the decisions of
Westminster Hall, nearly too year. before they
could oterSoise be obtained, and long before the pub
LEGATION of the contemporaneous decisions of most
of our own tribunals
The price of this publication will be $40 for
twelve numbers, payable in advance, for the six
volumes, handsomely ahd uniformly bound in law
sheep, $l2
The parts will be sold separately, il desired, at
s each
Single volume, bound, 50 25
Parts l. and H., stitched, or Vol. l., bound in law
sheep, containing reports of one hundred and
eighty eight cases, now ready for delivery.
The following are among the opinions of this
work expressed on the publication Of the fret num-
Der:
Letter from Hon. MiiIard Fillmore, President of the
United States
WAsHINeToN, April 10 1851.
JAMES BRowN, esq: My DEAR SlR-Some days
since received, by the hand of the Postmaster
General, the first number Of the English Reports,
which you propose to republish in this country,
comprising every case reported in England; and
now have your letter of the 9th instant, inquiring
my opinion of the enterprise.
While pursuing my profession, took deep in.
terest in publications of this kind, The able
judges who have adorned the judicial tribunals of
England, have shed a lustre upon the Common
Law, and illumned its profoundest depths. con-
slider no law library complete that does not contain
their principal reports in Law and Equity, and in
their Ecclesiastical Courts and in Admiralty. For
some years had been in the habit of receiving
these in &c condensed" form. This condensation,
however, consisted, not in an abbreviation of each
n tn n N rnT no
was often annoyed by finding a reference to cases
in the Digests, which l deemed very important,
wholly omitted in the " condensed reports"
therefore hailed with great pleasure an effort which
was made some time since to rcpublish the whole.
IL the English Reports entire, can be republished
with despatch in this country, at price 80 low as
to bring them within the reach of the members of
the bar generally, conceive that it will confer
great benefit upon the profession and the judiciary
and consequently upon the country at large. Know
ing your enterprise, anticipate your success, and
can only express the hope that your reward may
be equal To your merits. 1 am your obedent
servant WILLARD FILLMORE.
From he Nep York Literary Vorld
Messrs. Little & Brown, of Boston, whose law
books, in point of typographical execution, vie
with the best similar issues of the English press
and in point of value and importance are inferior
to none in this country, have just commenced the
publication of legal series, deserving the especial
attention of the profession throughout the country
The basis OF this series, of which the first mum
Der Is before us, are the Lato Journal Reports and
the Jurist, two English serials which communicate
to the British Bar, within few weeks after their
delivery, the prominent decisions of all the courts
from the House Of Lords to the Court of Bankrupt
cy, and other tribunals of limited but practically
important jurisdiction. This excellent arrange
ment might be followed with great advantagein this
country, for the purpose of obviatng the delay
which necessarily attends the issuing of the regu
lar volumes of reports of particular courts and
we glad to sec the enterprise of our legal pub
fishers avaing themselves of it, to introduce the
English Reports promptly and regularly to the pro-
fesson. The authority OF Westminster Hall has lost
nothing of its sanction (; and the permanently high
character OF the English judiciary gives to their
adjudications continued weight and decisive in
iuencc with our courts Hitherto the difficulty has
been that the reported cases there have grown old
before they could be quoted and applied here, and
there was no way in which the current jurispru-
dence and adjudications of the day in the En- glish
courts could be made available by the American
bar, except at great expense and by continual vigi
lance. This difficulty Messrs Little s. Browns
Reports will remove; the cases decided in the
Queens Bench, the Common Pleas and the Ex-
chequer Chamber in January, will be ready for de-
livery here in April May, long before adiudged
cases of the same date in our courts appear in
the regular reports in which they are perpetuated
Nearly two years will thus be gained over the pre-.
sent system, which requires delay until the large
volume of authorized reports is published on the
other side and h then been reprinted on this
One advantage the present series is that the
decisions which t. gives those of courts in bcnc
the Judgments or the bench, and not the
less reliable decisions at Nisi Prius, which, how
ever interesting in many instances, do not carry
with them the same authority and force
The Reports are edited by T.. H. Bennett and
Chauncy Smith, esqs., of the Boston bar and their
Systematic arrangement, and the care with which
the notes, index, &c, are prepared, evidence the
thorough manner in which the proposed series will
be carried out.
In this connexion we take pleasure in adverting
to Messrs. Little and Browns other legal publca.
tons, among which are included many of the most
conspicuous and authoritative treatses of our iuris-
prudence. Judge Story's works, for ming a library
almost Of themselves, and familiar for their high
value and extensive reputation to American read
ers in general, as well to the legal profession,
have all issued from their press; as have also the
several works of Professor Greenleaf. Two very
valuable and extensive annually qualifications are also
Issued by them, the United States Digest and the
Statutes al Large; the latter being the authorized
edition of the Acts of Congress- got up in much
better style, both for reference aud preservation
than under the old regime Of public printing at
Washington, which included the annual statutes
and sent them forth TO the world thin paper and
in bad type.
From the Ne,c York EUening Post
Little x Brown, of Boston, to whose ENTERPRISE
the reading public has 40 often been indebted for