The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-11-19
ESGLIsn REPORTS IN LAW AND
EnUITY

and judicial opinions of the several Courts OF
Law and Equity in England can be more prompt
Nv and cheaply furnished TO the legal profession IN
this country, has long been seriously felt and ae-
knowledged To meet similar want in England,
the Lap Journal Reports" and "Ihe y.plst;
which, together, report decisions In aI ue az ,h.i
Laic aud EQUITY, within few weeks after theH
delivery, were commenced number Oh yeraIS
since, and have met with the universal aPPIho "''
ton Of the legal profession IhelI s So1' cc
ever has hitherto prevented their genera oi'Su ~.
lation in this country and their merits are as yet
but little known among u.s. mt 49, -
The subscribers propose 10 Tepupissn 1nes9 ie
ports in full as fast as they appear In England ana
Ear he received here. They will contain reports
of cases decided in the House oil Lords, the FrlVy
Council the several Courts OF Equity, the Court oil
oueen,s Bench, the Court of Common Pleas, the
Conrt of Excheauer 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 CONNIE ncing with the decisions of Michael
mas (Noyember) term, 1850, and will be carefully
edited by a 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 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
be PACED consecutively from the number imme-
daiely preceding and will contain table of cases,
and Of contents TO both, and thus form a complete
volume, ready for binding, of ouer 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.
ltis designed to make this a 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 tico years before they
could otertoise be obtained and long before the pub
LEGATION of the contemporaneous decisions of most
The price of this publication will be so for
twelve numbers, payable in advance, or for the six
volumes, Handsomely and uniformly bound in law
sheep, ~.
The parts will be sold separately, il desired, at
S each.
Singic volume, bound, So %.
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 are among the opinions of this
work expressed on the publication of the first num-
Der:
Letter from Hon. Milard Fillmore, President of the
United States.
wAsHrNeroN, 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,
comprising every reported in England; and
have your letter of the 9th instant, inquiring
nv opinion of the enterprise.
While pursuing my profession, took deep in
tcrest 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 40 condensed form. This condensation,
however, consisted, not in an abbreviaton of each
case, but 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 &c condensed reports"
therefore hailed with great pleasure effort which
made some 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 reach of the members of
the bar generally, conceive that it will confer a
great benefit upon the profession and the judiciary
and consequently upon the country at large. Know
ing your enterprise, anticipate your success, and
i can only express the hope that your reward may
be equal to your merits. l your obedent
servant, WILLARD FILLMORE.
From The Ne,r York Literary WorId.
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
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, are the La,1 Journal Reports and
the .J,Hist, 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 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 see the enterprise Of our legal pub
fishers availing themselves of it, to introduce the
English Reports promptly and regularly to the pro-
rhpa tu nf tUnfp all hocl
nothing of its sanction and the permanently high
character OF the English judiciary gives to their
adjudications continued weight and decisive in
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 was way in which the current jurispru-
dence and adludications 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 perpetuatcd.
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 ia, that the
decisions which il gives those of courts in 6dnc
the deliberate judgments of the bench, and the
less reliable decisions at Nisi PritLs, which how
with them the same authority and force.
The Reports edited by E. ii. 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 publica-
tions, among which are included many of the most
conspicuous and authoritative treatses of uris
prudence. Judge Story's works, for ming a library
n OF Themselves. hiUh
value and extensive reputation to American read
in general, as well as to the legal profession,
have all issued from their press; as have also the
several works of Professor Grecnleaf. 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
Washington, which included the annual statutes,
and sent them forth to the world on thin paper and
in bad type.
From the Neto York Evening Post.
ALE &, IF To u.ho ;so