The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-10-21
THE REPUB LIC.
ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW AND
Ern UTqtX

n IUUICIlI OplnIOn6
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 ac
knowledged. To meet similar want in England,
the ''LaiO Journal Reports and ''The JlTist,"
which, together report decisions in all The Courts in
LGlo aud Equity, within few weeks after their
delivery, were commenced a 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-
ation 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 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 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 as well as part OF an en-
tire series. Every alternate or second number will
be PACED consecutively from the number imme-
djately preceding and will contain table OF cases.
and of contents 20 both, and thus form a complete
volume, ready for binding of ouer siG hundred pages
In each volume the cases of the several courts viii
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.
Ills designed to make this a PERMANENT PUBL
CATION, and thus establish series OF English
Law and Equity Reports, which shall, in all re-
spects, be far III advance of any other reprint Of
English Reports in this country, and which shall
furnish to the American lawyer the decisions Of
Mes inzte all rlu ffgO ref NJ
could oerluse 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 aAd uniformly bound in law
sheep, $l2.
The parts will be sold separately, il desired at
S each.
Single volume bound, So %.
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 mum
Der:
Letter from Hon Nillard Fillmore, President Of the
United States.
WAsHiNGToN, April IL 1851
JAMES BRoWN, ESQ: My DEAN SIR-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
my opinion of the enterprise
While pursuing my profession, took deep in
tefest in publications of this kind. The able
iud ges 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 i'll Law and Equity, and in
their ecclesiastical 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 abbreviation of each
case, but selection from the several cases, and
often annoyed by finding a reference to cases
in the Digests, which deemed very important
wholly omitted in the CONDENSED reports"
therefore hailed with great pleasure effort which
made some Tune since to republish the whole
If the English Reports entire, be republished
with despatch in this country, at price so low as
10 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 Neto York Literary Worid.
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 arc 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 s before US, are the LalD Journal Reports and
the JuiSt, 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
~, and other tribunals of limited but practically
important jurisdiction This excellent arrange
inent might be followed with great advantag this
country, for the purpose OF obviating the delay
which necessarily attends the issuing of the regu
lar volumes of reports of particular courts /; and
glad to see the enterprise of our legal pub
fishers availing themselves of ii, introduce the
English Reports promptly and regularly to the pro-
iession. The authority of Westminster Hall has lost
nothing of its sanction and the permanently high
character OF the English judiciary gjvco TO their
adiudcations continued weight and decisive in
tuence with our courts. Hitherto the difficulty has
been that the reported cases there have grown old
before they could be Iotcd 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
har, except at great expense and by continual vigil
lance. This difficulty Messrs. Little & Browns
Reports will remove; the decided in the
Queens Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Ex-
chcquer Chamber in January, will be ready for de-
livery here in April or May, long before adiudged
cases of the same date in 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 hen been reprinted on this
One advantag. II the present series is, that the
decisions which /. gives those of courts in banc
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 f. 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 connexon VIC take pleasure in advcrting
to Mcssr5. Little and Browns other legal publica
tons, among which are included many of the most
conspicuous and authoritative treatises Of our iuris-
prudence. Judge Story's works, for ming library
almost OF themselves, and familiar for their high
value and extensive reputation to America read
ers in general, we'll to the legal profession
have all issued from their press; as have also the
several works of Professor Grceneaf. Two very
valuable and extensive annual publications are also
Issued by them, the United States Digest and the
Statutes ut Large; the latter being the authorized
edition of the Acts of Congress, got up in much
better style, both for reference and preservation
than under the old regime OF public printing at
Washington, which included the annual statutes
and them forth to the world on thin paper and
in bad type.
From the Ne,o York Ercning Post.
Little & Brown of Boston, to whose enternrise