The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-12-25
ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW AND
EnVITK

ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW AND
EQUITY.
| Proposals. bv LITTLE g. BRowE, ll2 Washington
street Boston, for publishing By subscription
series Of LatO aud Equity Reports.
| TNHE want of some system by which the decisions
| and judicial opinions Of the several Courts OF
| Law and Equity in England can be more prompt
! by and cheaply furnished to the legal profession in
this country, has long been seriously felt and ac-
knowledged. To meet similar want in England,
the ''Laio Journal Reports" and 1.-The JiHist,"
which together report decisions in all the Courts in
| Lar 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 hgn cost now
,ver, has hitherto prevented their general circu-
aton in this country, and their merits are as yet
| but little known among US.
| The subscribers propose to republish these re-
ports in full 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-
| ierences TO analogous American decisions.
Each number will consist Of over three hundred
pages closely printed octave, on the best paper and
and full table of contents, thus forming COM
plete volume by itself, as we'll as part of an en-
tire series. Every alternate or second number will
be PACED consecutivey from the number lmne-
diateiy preceding and will contain table of cases,
and of contents to Goh and thus form a complete
volume ready for binding, Of ooer si1 hundred pages
In each volume the cases OF the several courts W III
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:
-, d.
CATION, and thus establish a neip 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 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, Sl2
The parts will be sold separately, il desired, at
s 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 are among the opinions OF this
work expressed on the publication OF the first num-
Letter from Hon. Milford Fillmore, President of tie
United States.
WAsHINGToN, April 10 1851.
JAMES BnowN, 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 rePubish 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 proioundest 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 condensation,
however, consisted, not in an abbreviaton of each
case, but u 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 81 condensed reports''
therefore hailed with great Pleasure an effort which
was made some tlme 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
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,o York Literary IVoyld.
Messrs. Little s. Brown, of Boston, whose law
books, in point of typographical execution, vie
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 mum
Der is before US, the LaD Journal Reports and
the Jurist, 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
kaE
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 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 loaf
nothing of its sanction ; and the permanently high
character OF the English judiciary gives to their
authorizations continued weight and decisive in
fuence 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 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 s. Browns
Reports will remove; the 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 are perpetuated
Nearly two years will thus be gained over the pre-
sent SYSTEM, WHICH Il uCilJ until lllBG
volume of authorized reports ID published 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 decsions 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. II. Bennett and
Chauncy Smith, csqs., 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 connexion we take pleasure in advertng
to Messrs. Little and Browns other legal publica
lions, among which are included many of the most
conspicuous and authoritative treatises OF uris
prudence. Judge Story's works, for ming library
almost of themselves, and familiar for their high
value and extensive reputation TO American read
ers in general, 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
lssued by them, the United States Digest and the
Statutes at Large; the latter being the authorized
edition of the Acte of COnnress, rot uD in much