The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-12-23
ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW AND
EOUTFY.

series Of Laio and Equity Reports.
\ TINE 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
~ and cheapy furnished TO the legal profession IN
this country, has long been seriously felt and &C.
Il knowledged To meet a similar want in England,
1 the ''LGiD Journal Reports" and "1he JuTist,"
which, together report decisions in all the Courts ia
Lam and Equit6 within few weeks after their
delivery, were commenced number OF years
4 Since and have met with the universal approba
ton of the legal profession Their high cost, how
aver, 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 fast 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
l 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, 1859, 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, on the bestpaper and
in clear fair type and will contain table Of cases,
l and a full table OF contents, thus forming com
petc volume by ITSELF us well as part OF an en-
| tire series Every alternate or second number Will
| be PACED consecutively from the number imme-
dately preceding, and will contain table OF cases,
and of contents to both, and thus form complete
volume, ready for binding, Of oUer SiI hundred pdges
In each volume the of the several courts viii
be found arranged together and, in point of style
L and typographical execution this series will be
fully equal to the best reports OF England or tins
4 country.
l Its designed to make this a PERMANENT PUBL
CATION, and thus establish series of English
| Law and Equity Reports, which shall, Ill all re-
spects, be far in advance of any other reprint OF
| English Reports in this country, and which shall
| furnish 10 the American lawyer the decisions of
l Westminster Hall, nearly TOO gears before they
could otericse be obtained, and long before the pub
I! LEGATION Of the contemporaneous decisions of most
/ of our own tribunals.
The price 81 this publication will be $ 10 for
twelve numbers payable in advance, for the Blk
| volumes, handsomely AID uniformly bound in law
sheep, 9l2.
The parts VIII be sold separately, III desired, at
81 each.
Single volume, bound So 25.
Parts /. 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 among the opinions OF this
work expressed on the publication of the first
DER
Letter from Hon DTillard Fillmore President Of the
United States.
WAsHINoToa, April - 1851.
JAMES BaowN ESQ: MY DEAR SIR-Some DAYS
since ! received, by the hand of the Postmaster
General, the frat 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
En- gland, have shed lustre upon the Common
Law, and illumned its prooundest depths. con-
slider law library complete that does not contain
their principal reports in Law and Equity, and in
th, Ecclesiastical Courts and i'll Admiralty For
ha6 hpen n @ np
thesein condensed'' FORM This condemnation,
however, consisted not In an abbreviation of each
case, but selection from the several cases. andl
was often annoyed by finding reference to cases
in the Digess, which deemed very important,
wholly omitted in the condensed reports"
therefore hailed with great pleasure effort which
was made some time since to republish the whole.
If the English Reports entire, can be republishcd
with despatch in this country, at n price 80 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 large Know
ing your enterprise, anticipate your success, and
can only express the hope that your reward may
servant, WILLARD FILLMORE
From the Nero York Literary World.
Measrs Little s. Brown, of Boston, whose law
books in point of typographical execution, vie
with the best similar issues of the Engsh press,
and in point Of value and Importance inferior
TO none in this country, have ju5t 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 Latc Journal Reports and
the Jiuist, 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
| CIV, and other tribunals of limited but practically
| important jurisdiction. This excellent arrange
ment mi ht be followed with great advantage in this
| country for the purpose of obviating the delay
which necessarily attends the issuing OF the rcgu-
1 ts.1la
we are glad to the enterprise of our legal pub
| fishers availing 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
| adudications a continued weight and decisive in
fluence 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 was no way in which the current jurispru-
dence and adiudicatons 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 Browns
Reports will remove; the cases decided in the
Queens Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Elk
chequer Chamber in January, will be ready for de-
livery here in April or May, long before adjudged
cases of the same date in courts appear in
| the regular reports in which they perpetuated
! Nearly two years will thus be gained 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 il gives those of courts in bdnc
the deliberate judgments Of the BENCH and not the
less reliable decisions at AiSi Pyjgs, which, how
| ever interesting in many instances, do not carry
| with them the same authority and force.
The Reports are edited by +. IL. 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 advertng
! to Messrs Little and Browns other legal publica-
tons among which are included many OF the most
conspicuous and authoritative treatses of our uris
| prudence. Judge Story's works, for ming 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 Grcenleaf Two very
! valuable and extensive annual publications also
| Issued by them, the United States Digest and the
Statutes at Large the latter being the authorized
! edition of the Acts Of Congress, got up in much
better style, both ION reference and preservation
than under the old regime of public printing at
| Washington, which included the annual statutes
and sent them forth to the world on thin paper and
I l.. a frvr.n