The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-05-17

9NOAkSk1 AMrOIAJ0 4N AAh w ANU
EQUITY.
Proposals BY LITTLE BaowS, ll2 Washington
street, Boston, for Publishing By subscription
series Of Lasv and Equity Reports.
THE want Of some system by which the decisions
| i 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 a similar want in England,
| the 'sLaw Journal Reports" and "Ihe Juist,"
which, together, report decisions in all the Courts ia
Lao 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-
ation in this country, and their merits are yet
but little known among
The subscribers propose to republish these re-
ports in full as fast 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 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-
l terences to analogous American decisions.
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
| pete voluIns BY itself. well part of an en-
1 tire SERIES Every alternate or second number will
| be PACED consecutively from the number imme-
dately preceding and will contain table of cases,
| and of contents TO both, and thus form a complete
volume, ready for bindings of ouer sr 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.
L It,. a Al:
toATIoN, 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 ttc0 years before they
could othUise be obtained and long before the pub
LEGATION OF the contemporaneous decisions OF most
| The price of this publication will be $40 for
twelve numbers, payable in advance, for the six
volumes, handsomely aad uniformly bound in law
sheep, $l2.
The parts will be sold separately. if desired, at
81 each.
Single volume, bound, So 25.
Parts |. 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 the publication Of the fret num-
ber
Letter from Hon. Aillard Fillmore, President Of the
| United States.
WAsHISGroN, April 13, 1851.
JAMES BaowN, ESQ: MY Dean SIR-Some days
since l received, by the hand Of the Postmaster
General, the frat 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, l 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 iumned its profoundest depths I cons
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 abbreviaton of each
case, but 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 effort which
was made some time since to repubsh the whole.
If the English Reports entire, be repubshed
with despatch in this country, at price go 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 Ns,p 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 La,o Journal Reports and
the yutst, 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 advantagei 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 are glad to see 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 of its sanction and the permanently high
character OF the English judiciary gives to their
ndjudications continued weight and decisive in
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 onrrent 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 perpetuated.
Nearly Two years VIII tnus DC gaihcu over the pre-
sent SYSTEM which requires delay until the large
volume of authorized reports ia 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 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 E. H. Bennett and
Chauncy Smith, esqs., of the Boston bar. and their
systematic arrangement, and the care with which
the notes, index, Sc, are prepared, evidence the
thorough manner in which the proposed series will
! be carried out.
In this connection We take pleasure in adverting
to Messrs. Little and Browns other legal publca-
tions, among which are included many of the most
conspicuous and authoritative treatscs of jurs-
prudence. Judge Story's works, for ming library
almost Of themselves, and familiar for their high
value and extcnsiye reputation to America read
ers in general, as well to the legal profession,
have all issued from their prcss as have also the