The republic., 1851-08-13
ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW AND
EQyJITX

Equity.
Proposals. by LITTLE & BROwS, ll2 Washington
street Boston, for publishing BY subscription
series Of Lato and Equity Reports
THE want of some system by which the decisions
IL and judicial opinions of the several Courts OF
Law and Equity in England can be more prompt
y and cheaply furnished to the legal profession in
this country, has long been seriously felt and &C
knowledged. To meet similar want in England,
the ssLaiu Journal Reports and "Ihs Jirist,"
which, together, report decisions in all the Courts IN
Lalo 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 are as yet
but little known among us.
The subscribers propose to republish these re
ports in full as fast as they appear in England and
can be received here. They will contain reports
of cases decided in the House of Lords, the Privy
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 decisions 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 octavo on the best paper and
in clear, fair type and will contain table OF cases,
and full table of contents, thus forming com
plete volume by itself, as well part of an en-
tire series Every alternate or second number will
be paged consecutvely from the number imme
dately preceding and will contain table OF cases,
and of contents to both, and thus form a complete
volume, ready for binding, OF ooer siI hundred pages
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.
Itis designed TO make this PERMANENT PUBL
CATION, and thus establish 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 t,oo gears before they
could oeioiss be obtained and long before the pub
licaton of the contemporaneous decisions of most
of our own tribunals.
The price of this publication will be $40 for
twelve numbers, payable in advance or for the six
volumes, handsomely and uniformly bound in law
sheep, $l2.
The parts will be sold separately, il desired, at
s each.
Single volume, bound, So 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 first num-
ber:
Letter from Hon. Dfillard Fillmore, President Of The
United States.
WAsHINeToN, April l3 1851.
JAMES BRowN, ESQ.,: My DEAR SIR-Some days
since / received, by the hand of the Postmaster
General, the first number of the English Reports,
which you propose to republlsh In this country,
comprising every reported in England; and
now have your letter of the 9th instant, inquring
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 lustre upon the Common
Law, and illumned its profoundest depths. | con-
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 60 condensed" form. This condensation,
however, consisted not in an abbrevlation of each
case, but selection from the several cases, and
was often annoyed by finding reference to cases
in the Digests, which deemed very important,
wholly omitted in the &c condensed reports"
therefore hailed with great Pleasure effort which
made some time since to republi5h the whole.
If the English Reports entire, can be republished
with despatch in this country, at price so 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
can only express the hope that your reward may
be equal to your merits. ! am your obedient
servant, WILLARD FILLMORE.
From the Ne,c York Literary IVorld.
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 num-
Der ia before us, the Latc Journal Reports and
the Jlvist, two English serials which communicate
to the British Bar, within q 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 obvlating the delay
which necessarily atends the issuing of the regu
lar volumes Of reports of particular courts and
glad to the enterprise of our legal pub
lshers avaing themselves Of it, to introduce the
English Reports promptly and regularly to the pro-
fession The authority of Westminster Hall has lost
nothing of its sanction and the permanently high
character Of the English Judiciary gives to their
adludicatons continued weight and decisive in
luence with courts. Hitherto the difficulty has
been that the reported cases there have grown old
before they could be quoted and applied here, and
there way in which the current jurispru-
dence and adjudcations of the day in the English
| courts could be made available by the American
bar, except at great expense and by continual vigi
lance This difficulty Messrs. Little & Browne
| 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 or May long before adjudgcd
| cases of the same date in courts appear in
the regular reports in which they are perpetuated.
Nearly TWO years VIII tuuS NC Sdincu oVer Tue pre-
sent system which requires delay until the large
| volume of authorized reports is published on the
other side and has then been reprinted on this
One advantage of the present series ia, that the
decisions which it gives those OF courts in banc,
the deliberate judgments of 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 aye edited by e. H. Bennett and
Chauncy Smith, esqs., of the Boston bar, and their
systematic arrangement, and the care with which
the notes, index, &c. arc 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 pubica-
| tions, among which are included many of the most
conspicuous and authoritative trcatises of our jurs-
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, we'll to the legal profession,
have all issued from their press; have also the
several works of Professor Greenleaf Two very
valuable and extensive annual publications also
Issued by them the United States Digest and the
Statutes al Large; the latter being the authorized
| edi of he ActS of in