The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-05-31
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ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW AND
EQUITY.
Proposals by LIrrLE & BRowN, ll2 Warrington
street, Boston, publishing By subscription
series Of LatD and Equity Reports.
rINHE 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
y and cheaply furnished to the legal profession in
this country, has long been seriously felt and
knowledged. To meet similar want in England /.
the "Lao Journal Reports" and "IHs Jurist, :"
which, together, report decsions in all the Courts IN,
Lam aud 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-
laton ia this country, and their merits are as yet
but little known among US.
The subscribers propose to rcpubish these
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 Excheqper Chamber, the
Ecclesiastical and Admiralty Courts, tho 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-
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
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 beat reports of England or this
country.
ltis designed to make this PERMANENT PUBL
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 tto0 years 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 ald uniformly bound in law
sheep, $l2.
The parts will be sold separately, if desired. at
s each.
Single volume, bound, So 25.
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
ber
Letter from Hon. Aiard Fillmore, President Of the
United States.
WASHINGTON, April Is, 1851.
JAMES BRowN, ESQ.,: MY DEAR SlR-Some days
since received, by the hand of the Postmaster
General the first number of the English Reports,
which you propose to repubsh in this country,
comprising every 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
kar tn, IF h;a J;v,d ali
judges who have adorned the judicial tribunals of
England, have shed lustre upon the Common
Law, and iumined 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
some years had been in the habit of receiving
these in " condensed form. This condensation,
however, consisted not in abbreviation of each
case, bat selection from the several cases, and
was often annoyed by finding reference to cases
in the Digests. 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 republished
with despatch in this country, at price 90 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 Ne,o York Literary World
Messrs. Little & 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 i'll 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 u.s. the Lap Journal Reports and
the Jurist, two English serials which communicate
Brit Sr,,kt tkos.-
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 obviating the delay
which necessarily attends the issuing of the regu
lar volumes OF reports of particular courts and
are glad to the enterprise of our legal pub
fishers avaing 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
adiudcations continued weight and decisive in
huence with courts. Hitherto the difficulty has
been that the reported cases thore have grown old
before they could be quoted and applied here, and
there 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 vigil
lance. This difficulty Messrs Little & 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 adjudged
cases Of the same date in own 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 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 same authority and force.
The Reports are edited by f. II. Bennett and
Chauncy Smith, esqs. of the Boston bar, and their
systematic arrangement, and the with which
the notes, index, &C., are prepared, evidence the
thorough manner in which the proposed series will
be carried out.
In this connection we take pleasure in advcrting
to Messrs. Little and Browne other legal publica