The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-06-23
ENGLISH REPORTs n xsAS AND
EQUITY.

ENGLISH REPORTe ~ xsA1F AND
| Proposals by LITTLE & Ba0w m ~ ktinsior
1 sfyeet, B0sios, for ps4bIiskise " ~ nsx
series Of L0s0 and Eqsity R9W1D.
| TTyHE want of some system by which tbodecisona
i and judicial opinions of the several Courts Of
ly and cheaply furnished to the legal profession in
this country has long been seriously felt and ac-
knowledged. To meet similar want in England.
the "Laio Journal R<ports.' and "Ihs Juriss, =
which, together, report decisions in all the Courts
Lao and Equity, within few weeks after their
delivery, were commenced q number Of years
since, and have met with the universal approba-
ton of the legal profession. Their high cost, how
ever, has hilhoEte prevented their general circu-
lation in THU Qq6Glrys and their merits as yet
but little knox 0ng ~.
ports in fullss NJ = 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 aud Admiralty Courts, the Court OF
bankruptcy, including also the Election cases. the
Crown Cascs 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-
Each number will consist Of over three hundred
pages closely printed octavo the best paper, and
in clear fair type and will contain table of cases,
and full table Of contents, thus forming COM
pIete volume by ITSELF as well as part of en-
tire series. Every alternate or second number will
be PACED consecutively from the number imme-
diately preceding, and will contain table Of cases,
and Of contents to both, and thus form complete
volume ready for binding, Of sir 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.
II is designed to make this a PERMANENT PUBLI-
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 too gears before they
could otherwise 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, or for the six
volumes, handsomely and uniformly bound in law
sheep, $l2.
The parts viii be sold separately. if desired. at
| 81 each.
Single volume, bound, So IS.
Parts l. and H. stitched, or Vol. l., bound in law
sheep, containing reports Of one hundred and
lightweight cases, now ready for delivery.
The following are among the opinions Of this
work expressed on the publication Of the first num-
Der
Letter from Hon. llilard Fillmore, President Of ne
United States.
WAsHINaroN, April 10, 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
comprising every case reported in England; and
now have your letter of the 9Th instant, inquirng
my opinion of the enterprise.
While pursuing my profession, took deep in
- ks-v - l. snl ~hl
judges who have adorned the judicial tribunals of
England have shed q lustre upon the Common
Law, and illumined its profoundest depths con-
slider no law library complete that does not contain
their principal reports in Law and Equity, and in
their Ecclesiastcal Courts, and in Admiralty. For
some years had been in the habit of receiving
these in "condensed'' form. This condensation,
however, consisted, not in an abbreviaton Of each
case, but selection from the several cases, and
was often annoyed by finding reference to cases
in the Dgests. which deemed very important,
wholly omitted in the 50 condemned reports." i
therefore hailed with great an effort which
was made some time since to republsh the whole
If the English Reports entire, can be rcpublshed
with despatch in this country, at price so low
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 largo. Know
ing your enterprise, anticipate your success, and
can only express the hope that your reward may
servant SCI anti = ''D' WILLARD FILLMORE Fill
From the Neto York Literary World.
Messrs. Little s. 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 andimportance 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 is before US, the Lao Journal Reports and
the Jurist, two English serials which communicate
IN he tiah Rar yaoL Part hcSr
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 see the enterprise of our legal pub
fishers availing 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
adjndicatons continued weight and decisive in
flucnce with courts Hitherto the difficulty has
been that the reported cases thcre have grown old
before they could be quoted and applied here, and
there way in which the current jurspru-
dcnce and adjudications of the day in the English
courts could be made available by the American
bar, except at great expense and by continual vigil
lance. This difficulty Messrs. Little 6 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 or May, long before adjudgcd
of the same date in our own courts appear in
the regular reports in which they 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 has then been reprinted on this.
One advantage of the present series ia, that the
decisions which it gives are 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 edited by E. H. Bennett and
Chauncy Smith, esqs., of the Boston bar. and their
Systematic arrangement, and the care with which