The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-08-01
ENGLISH REPORTS IN Law AND
EQUITY.

street, Boston, Tor publishing by subscription reo
series Of Las1 and Equity Reports.
THE want Of some system by which the decisions
J. and judicial opinions OF the several Courts of
Law and Equity in England can be more prompt
y and cheapy furnished TO the legal profession in
this country, has long been seriously felt and ac-
knowedged. To meet similar want in En- gland,
the "LGto Journal Reports" and The JlDist
which, together report decisions in all the Courts in
LGlo 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 high cost, how
ever, has hitherto prevented their general circu-
lation in this country, and their merits 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, $780, 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 full table of contents, thus forming COM
| plete volume by itself, as well part of an en-
| tire SERIES Every alternate 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 a complete
volume, ready for binding of oUer sr 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 10 the beat reports Of England or this
| country.
tits 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 tioo 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, $l2.
The parts will be sold separately, if desired, at
! S. EACH
| Single volume bound, So 25.
Parts /. and H., stitched, VOL L., bound in law
sheep, containing reports of one hundred and
| lightweight 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. Willard Fillmore, President Of the
! United States.
WAsHINGToN, April 10, 1851.
JAMES BRowN, ESQ.,: My DEAR 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
now have your letter of the 9th instant inquiring
my opinion of 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 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 :" condensed'' form. This condemnation,
however, consisted, not in an abbreviation of each
case, but selection from the several cases, and
| was often annoyed by finding reference to
in the Digests, which l deemed very important,
wholly omitted in the So condensed reports"
therefore hailed with great pleasure effort which
was made som, One since to republish the whole
II the English Reports entire, be republished
with despatch in this country, at price 30 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
be equal to your merits. am your obedient
servant, WILLARD FILLMORE.
From, the Ne,p York Literary Vorld
| 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 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,u Journal Reports and
| the Jtrist, 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
cy and other tribunals of limited but practically
/ important Jurisdiction. This excellent arrange
ment might be followed with great advantagen this
country for the purpose of obviating the delay
which necessarily attends the issuing of the reg1
| lar volumes of reports of particular courts ; and
we glad to see 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
adjudicatons a continued weight and decisive in
huence 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 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 adudged
cases of the same date in courts appear in
the regular reports in which they are 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 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.. III. 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 we take pleasure in adverting
| to Messrs. Little and Browns other legal pubca-
tons, among which are included many of the most
conspicuous and authoritative treases of our iurs-
| prudence. Judge Storys 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 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,
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