The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-07-17
ENGLISH REPORTS In LAW AND
EQUUstY


Proposals by LITTLE & BRowN, ll2 Washington
street Boston, for publishing BY subseyi ption nesc
series Of LaD and Equity Reports.
TINE 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. 70 meet similar want in Engl land,
the ''LGio Journal Reports" and "1hs Jurist.''
which, together, report decisions in all the Courts in
Lao and Equity, within u 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-
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
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, the best paper and
IN clear fair type and will contain table of cases,
and a full table of contents, thus forming COM
plete volume by itself, well as part of an en-
tire series. Every alternate second number will
be PACED consecutively from the number imne-
diatey 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 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.
4 - -
CATION, and thus establish ne,c series of English
Law and Equity Reports, which shall, in 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 ttvo 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, 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 l. 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 among the opinions of this
work expressed on the publication of the first num-
Der:
Letter from Hon. 1fillard Fillmore, President Of the
United States.
WAsHINeToN, April 10, 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 reported in England; and
now have your letter of the 9th instant inquiring
my opinion ofthe 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 docs 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 g condensed" form. This condensation,
however, consisted, not in an abbreviation of each
case, but selection from the several cases, and
was often annoyed by finding q 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 som, Time since to republish the whole.
If the English Reports entire, can be republished
with despatch in this country at price so low as
to bring them within the reacfSof the members of
the bar generally, i 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
be equal to your merits. / am your obedient
servant, WILLARD FILLMORE.
From, the Ne,o York Literary World
books, in point of typographical execution, vie
with the best similar Issues of the English press
and in point of value and importance 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 La,o Journal Reports and
the Jrist, two English serials which communicate
to the British Bar, within few weeks after their
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 advantage in 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
we glad to the enterprise of our legal pub
fishers awaiting themselves of it, to introduce the
English Reports promptly and regularly to the pro-
fession. The authority of Westminster Hall has lost
nothing ofits sanction and the permanently high
Of the English judiciary gives to their
fiuence with courts. Hitherto the difficulty has
been that the reported cases there have grown old
before they could be quoted and applied here, and
there way in which the current iurispru- |
dence 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 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 our own courts appear in
the regular reports in which they perpetuated.
Nearly two years will thus be gained 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 Nfsi Prius, which, how
ever interesting in many instances, do not carry
with them the same authority and force.
The Reports edited by f. III. Bennett and
Chauncy Smith, esqs., of the Boston bar, and their
systematic arrangement, and the 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
to Messrs. Little and Browns other legal publca
tons, among which are included many of the most
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, 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 are 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 |
than under the old regime Of public printing at |