The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-10-18
ENGLISH nEpoRrs IN LAW AND

the "Lato Journal Reports" and "The Jurist,"
which, together, report decisions IN all The Courts m
Lalc 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
can be received here. They will contain reports
of cases decided in the House of Lords, the Prvy
Council, the several Courts of Equity the Court Of
Queens Bench, the Court OF Common Pleas, the
Court OF Exchequer and EAchequcr ChaInoeri the
Ecclesiastical and Admiralty Courts the Court oil
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 on 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, as well as 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 complete
volume, ready for binding, OF orT 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 best reports OF England or this
country
It's designed to make this a PERMANENT PUBL
CATION, and thus establish series of English
Law and Equity Reports, which SHALL in ali 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 t,co years before they
could otertoise be obtained and long before the pub
LEGATION of the contcmporancous decisions of most
! of our own tribunals
The price of this publication will be s 10 for
twelve numbers, payable in advance, or for the six
volumes, Handsomely and uniformly bound in law
! oheep, $l2
The parts will be sold separately, il desired, at
J Is each.
Single volume bound, 81 25.
Parts |. and H., stitched, or VOL l., bound in law
! sheep, containing reports of hundred and
eighty eight cases, now ready for delivery
The following are among the opinions Of this
work expressed on the publication Of the first num-
Der :
Letter from Hon. DTiilard Fillmore President of the
United States.
WAsHISGToE, April IL 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 i'll 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
| 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
1 these in 50 condensed" form. This condensation,
4 however, consisted, not in an abbrevaton of each
case, 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 &c condensed reports''
therefore hailed with great pleasure effort which
| was made some time since TO republish the whole.
! II the English Reports entire, be rcpublshed
with despatch in this country, at price so low
! 20 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 1 your obedient
servant, WILLARD FILLMORE.
From the Ne,r York Literary World
AIessrs. Little Sc Brown, of Boston, whose law
books, in point of typographical execution, vic
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 mum
Der is before us, the Lato Journal Reports and
the JuTist, 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.
men 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
glad to the enterprise of our legal pub
fishers availing 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
! adjudications a continued weight and decisive in
uence 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 way in which the current iurispru-
dcnce and adjudicaton5 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 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 adiudged
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 Il. den been reprinted Oh this
! One advantage i the present series is, that the
decisions which II gives arc those of courts in bnnc
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 edited by f. H. Bennett and
Chauncy Smith, csqs., of the Boston bar and their
! systematic arrangement, and the care with which
| the notes. index, &c, prepared, evidence the
thorough manner in which the proposed series will
! be carried out.
In this connexion take pleasure in advcrting
to Messrs. Little and Browns other legal publca.
tons, among which are included many of the most
conspicuous and authoritative treases of our iuris-
prudence. Judge Story's works, for ming a 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 as have also the
several works of Professor Grcenleac Two very
valuable and extensive annual publications arc also
issued by them, the United States Digest and the
Statutes al 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 al
/ Washington, which included the annual statutes
and sent them forth to the world ON thin paper and
/ in bad type
/ From The NeiO York EUening Post
Little x Brown, Of Boston, to whose enterprise
\ the reading public has often been indebted for
the most valuable American and foreign books
propose to publish, by subscription, new series OF
the English Reports in Law and Equity This Sc