The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-06-24
ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW AND
EOUITK.

ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW AND
EQUITY.
Proposals. by LITTLE & BaowS, ll2 Waskingfop
street, Boston, for publishing by subscription nep
series Of La,o and Equity Reports.
THE 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 ac-
knowledged. To meet q similar want in England.
the "Lato Journal Rsports,' and "Ihs Jurist,"
which, together, report decisions in all the Courts IN
Law and Equity, within few weeks after their
delivery, were commenced q 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 yet
but little known among us.
The Subscribers propose to republish these re-
ports in full as fast = they appear in England and
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 a 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, the best paper and
in clear fair type, and will contain table Of cases,
and full table Of contents, thus forming COM
plcte 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 to both, and thus form a complete
volume ready for binding, of ocer siI hundred pages
In each volume the cases 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 pRRMANENr PUBL
CATION, and thus establish serbs 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 tico years before they
could othsnse 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 aid 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
eighty eight cases, now ready for delivery. !,
work expressed on the publication of the first num-
Der:
Letter from Hon. Millard Fillmore, President of the
United States.
WASHINGTON, April Is, 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 rcpublish in this country,
comprising every case reported in England; and
now have your letter of the 9th instant, nquiring
my opinion of the enterprise.
la mira ninoy " prnf ooh door in.
tcrest in publications OF this kind. The able
judges who have adorned the judicial tribunals of
England have shed a 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
some years had been in the habit of receiving
these in I" condensed" form. This condensation,
however, consisted, not in abbreviation Of each
oase, but selection from the several cases, and
was 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 an effort which
was made some time since to republish the whole.
If the English Reports entire, be republished
with despatch in this country, at price SO low
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
servant, WILLARD FILLMORE
From the Ns,o 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, are the Law 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
country, for the purpose OF obviating the delay
which necessarily attends the issuing Of the regu
lar volumes OF reports of particular courts ; and
fishers availng 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 thepermanently high
character OF the English judiciary gives to their
adiudicatons continued weight and decisive in
huence 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 iurispru-
dcnce and adjudications of the day in the English
courts could be made available by the American
bar except at great expense and by continual vgi-
lance This difficulty Mcssrs. 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 ndjudged
Of the same date in our own courts appear in
the regular reports in which they are pcrpetuated.
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
with them the same authority and force.
The Reports edited by E. 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 connexion VIC take pleasure in adverting