The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-07-24
ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW AND
EQIITY.

/
street. Boston, for publishing by subscription
series Of Lao and Equity Reports.
TINE want OF some system by which the decisions
a. and judicial opinions Of the several Courts of
| Law and Equity in England be more prompt
Iy and cheaply furnished to the legal profession
this country, has long been seriously felt and ac
! knowledged. To meet a similar want in En- gland,
the "LGto Journal Reports" and "Ihe Jt1ist,"
which, together, report decisions in all the Courts ia
Lao 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, 1885, 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 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, well part of an en-
tire series. Every alternate or second numbeE will
be PACED consecutively from the number imme-
diatey preceding, and will contain table of cases,
and of contents to both, and thus form complete
volume, ready for binding Of ooer sia 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.
tits designed to make this PERMANENT PUBL
| CATION and thus establish neio 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,ro years before they
could oetcss 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, Sl2.
The parts will be sold separately, il 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 are among the opinions OF this
work expressed on the publication of the first num-
per'
Letter from Hon. Willard Fillmore, President Of the
URited States.
WAsHINaToN, April 10, 1851.
JAMES BRowN, ESQ: MY DEAR SIR-Some days
since received, by the hand of the Postmaster
| 0encral, the Ur5t OF the EngllSn hepOrt5,
| 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 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 Ecclesiastical Courts, and in Admiralty. For
n.l - H. I.L, 6
these in 80 condensed FORM This condensation,
| however, consisted not in abbreviation of each
case, but selection from the several cases, and
! was often annoyed by finding reference to cases
| in the Dgests, which i deemed very important
! wholly omitted in the " condensed reports"
therefore hailed with great pleasure effort which
was made SOM t1me since to republish the whole
If 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 a
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, l am your obedient
servant, WILLARD FILLMORE.
From the Ne,c 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 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 is before us, the Laio Journal Reports and
the Jnuist, 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
Cyl 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 obviating the delay
/ which necessarily attends the issuing of the regu
! lar yOuInes of reDOrtS of DartiCuar courts and
glad to see the enterprise of our legal pub
fishers avaiing 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
adjudicatons contiaued weight and decisive in
fiuence 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 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 decided in the
| Queens Bench, the Commop Pleas, and the Ex
chequer Chamber in January, will be ready for de-
livery here in April or May, long before adjudged
cases of the same date in our own courts appear in
the regular reports in which they are perpetuatcd.
| 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 is, 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 authority and force
The Reports edited by E. II. Bennett and
Chauncy Smith, esqs., of the Boston BAR and their
systematic arrangement, and the care with which
| the notes, index, &c, prepared, evidence the
thorough manner in which the proposed series will
be carried out.
| In this connexion we take pleasure in adverting
| Measrs. Little and BrOWn's other LEGAL DuDCa-
tions, among which are included many of the most
conspicuous and authoritative reases OF our Jurs-
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; 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 at Large; the latter being the authorized
/ edition of the Acts of Congress, got up in much
better style, both for reference and preservation,
i 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