The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-07-23
ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW AND

| TINE want of some system by which the decision
IL and Judicial opinions OF the several Courts o
Law and Equity in England can be more prom ut
y and cheaply furnished to the legal profession il
this country, has long been seriously felt and &C.
knowledged. To meet similar want in England
the ''LaiC Journal Reports" and "Ihe Jurist
which, together, report decisions in all the Courts IN
Lao and Equity, within few weeks after theil
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 III this country, and their merits arc as yet
but little known among US.
The subscribers propose TO repubsh 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 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 beat paper and
in clear, fair type, and will contain table of cases.
and a full table of contents, thus forming COM
pletc volume by itself, as well as part of an en-
tire series Every alternate second number will
diately preceding and will contain table Of cases.
and of contents TO both, and thus form a complete
volume, ready for binding, of 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 beat reports of England or this
country.
tits designed to make this PERMANENT puBLI-
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 too gears 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 aAd uniformly bound in law
sheep, $l2.
The parts will be sold separately, If desired, at
s. each.
Single volume, bound, So %.
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 are among the opinions of this
DER
Letter from Hon. Millard 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 reported in England and
now have your letter of the 9Th instant, inquirng
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 it's profoundest depths. | con-
sder 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 an abbreviation of each
case, but a selection from the several cases and
was often annoyed by finding reference to cases
in the Digests, which l deemed very important
wholly omitted in the I" condensed reports" /
therefore hailed with great peasure effort which
was made som tfrne since to repubsh the whole
II the English Reports entire, can be repubIished
with despatch In this country, at price so low as
10 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
ng your enterprise, anticipate your success and
can only express the hope that your reward may |
De equal to your merits. am your obedent |
servant, WILLARD FILLMORE.
From The Ne,u York Literary World
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 are inferior
% 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- |
per is before US, the La,o Journal Reports and |
he JtTist, two English serials which communicate |
% the British Bar, within few weeks after their
delivery, the prominent decisions of all the courts
rom the House Of Lords TO the Court of Bankr,1pt-
~, and other tribunals of limited but practically |
important jurisdiction. This excellent arrange |
nent might be followed with great advantage in this
ntrxy tnr h. 81 -. a..
which necessarily attends the issuing of the regu
ar volumes Of reports of particular courts and |
we are glad to see the enterprise of our legal pub
fishers availng themselves OF it, to introduce the
English Reports promptly and regularly to the pro-
ession. The authority of Westminster Hall has lost
nQthing of its sanction and the permanently high
'haracter of the English judiciary gives to their
,dJudications continued weight and decisive in
iuence 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
here was no way in which the current jurispru-
fence and adjudications of the day in the English
'ourts could be made available by the American
,ar, except at great expense and by continual vigil
ance. This difficulty Messrs. Little s. Browns
Reports will remove; the cases decided in the
Queens Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Ex-
,hequer Chamber In January, will be ready for de-
livery here in April or May, long before adiudged
Eases of the same date In own courts appear in
he regular reports in which they are perpetuated
Nearly two years will thus be gained over the pre-
voume of authorized reports is published on the
'ther 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
he deliberate judgments of the bench, and not the
ess reliable decisions at Nisi Prius which, how
,ver interesting in many instances, do not carry
With them the same authority and force.
The Reports are edited by E. Fl. Bennett and
Chauncy Smith, esqs., of the Boston bar, and their
SYSTEMATIC arrangement, and the care with which
he notes, index, Sc, prepared, evidence the
borough manner in which the proposed series will
&c carried out.
In this connexion we take pleasure in adverting
o Messrs. Little and Browns other legal publica.
ions, among which are included many of the most
conspicuous and authoritative treatses of our uris-
prudence. Judge Story's works, for ming library
almost OF themselves, and familiar for their high
'alue and extensive reputation TO American read
RS in general, as well to the legal profession
ave all issued from their press; have also the
everal works of Professor Greenleaf Two very
aluable and extensive annual publications are also
ssued by them, the United States Digest and the
Statutes at Large; the latter being the authorized
dition of the Acts of Congress, got up in much
letter etyle, both for reference and preservation
han under the old regime OF public printing al
Washington. which included the annual statutes
nd sent them forth to the world OH thin paper and
n bad type
Eroon he