The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-10-01
ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW AND


street. Boston, for publishing by subscription neio
series Of LGto and Equity Reports
FTNHE want of some system by which the decisions
H. and judicial opinions of the several Courts OF
Law and Equity in England can be more prompt
ly and cheApy furnished TO the legal profession in
this country has long been seriously felt and ac-
knowledged. To meet a similar want IN England,
the "Laio Journal Reports" and g Ihe JuTist,
which, together report decisions in all the Courts IN
LGc 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 hgh cost now
ever, has hitherto prevented their general circu-
lation in this country, and their merits are as yet
but little known among u.s.
4 The subscribers propose to republlsh 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 oil
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
I 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-
terences to analogous American decisions.
Each number will consist of over three hundred
pages closely printed octave, the best paper and
in clear, fair type and will contain table OF cases,
and full table of contents, thus forming COM
tire SERIES Every alternate or second number Will
be PACED consecutiyely from the number lmme-
datcly preceding, and will contain table OF cases,
and of contents TO both, and thus form complete
volume, ready for binding, of ou 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 VIII be
fully equal to the best reports of England or this
country.
! tits designed to make this PERMANENT PUBL
| CATION, and thus establish series of English
I II ~ hall all
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 tlco gears before they
could oher,oise 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 ior the Six
volumes handsomely aAd uniformly bound in law
sheep, $l2.
The parts will be sold separately, ii desired, at
Is each.
Single volume, bound, 50 25
Parts l. and H., stitched, Vol. L., bound in law
sheep containing .of one hundred and
eighty eight cases, now ready for delivery.
The following are among the opinions OF this
work expressed the publication Of the first num-
Letter from Hon Willard Fillmore, President Of The
United States
WAsHrNGToN, April IL 1851.
JAMES BRowN, ESQ: My DEAR SIn-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
now have your letter of the 9th instant, nquirng
my opinion 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 lumined its prooundest depths. con-
slider no law library complete that does not contain
their principal reports in Law and Equity, and in
their Ecclesiastical Courts and i'll Admiralty. For
some years had been in the habit of receiving
these in 50 condensed FORM This condensation,
however, consisted, not in Authorization 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 g condensed reports"
therefore hailed with great pleasure an effort which
made some time since to republish the whole.
| If the English Reports entire, 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 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. your obedient
servant, WILLARD FILLMORE
From The Net, 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 Ldtc Journal Reports and
the Jurist, two English serials which communicate
to the British Bar, within a 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
! nnntrx thr nj iafJ he doll
which necessarily attends the issuing of the regu
lar volumes OF reports of particular courts and
we glad to sec 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
adiudications a continued weight and decisive inA
fluence 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-
dencc and adjudicatons 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 s. 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 are perpetuated
Nearly two years will thus be gained over the pre-.
sent system, which requires delay until the large
volume OF authorized reports ID publshed on the
other side and l. .hen been reprinted on this
One advantage the present series is, that the
decisions which H. 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 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 VIC take pleasure in adverting
to Mcssrs. Little and Browns other legal publica
tons, among which arc included many the most
conspicuous and authoritative treatises of our juris-
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, well to the legal profession,
have all issued from their press; have also the
several wor ks 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- rot uD in much