The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-06-27
EHolIsH REPORTS IN LAW AHD
E0uJITY.

EHoLIsH REPORTS IN LAW AHD
,.r EQUITY.
ProposaIs BY LIrrLs 4 BRowN, liz Washiagton
Is,s Eass Rso, s'
THE want of some system by which the decisions
~ and judicial opinions Of the several Courts OF
Law and Equity in England be more prompt
" and cheaply furnished to the legal profession in
this country, has long been seriously felt and &C
knowledged. To meet a similar want in England.
the "LaU Journal Reports,' and "Ixe Jtyisf,'
which, together, report decisions in all the Courts IN
Lap and Equity, within few weeks after their
delivery, 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 are as 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 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
Ecclesastical 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
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 q full table Of contents, thus forming COM
pete volume by itself, well part of an en-
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 q complete
volume, ready for binding, of ov siz 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.
tits designed to make this PERMANENT PUBL
CATION and thus establish neto 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 tioo years before they
could otertoise 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 aiid uniformly bound in law
sheep, $l2.
The parts will be sold separately, if desired, at
5 each.
Single volume, bound, So 25.
Parts l. and H., stitched, 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 frat num-
Der:
Letter from Hon. lfillard Fillmore, President Of the
United States.
WA1HNaToN, April Is, 1851.
JAMES BRowN, ESQ.,: MY DEAR SiR-Some days
since i received, by the hand of the Postmaster
General, the first number of the English Reports,
which you propose to rcpublish in this country,
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 illumincd 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 u &c c0ndensed' form. This condensation,
however, consisted, not in an abbrcviat0n of each
case, but a 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 "condersed reports" i
therefore hailed with great pleasure effort which
was made some time since to repubish the whole.
If the English Reports entire, can be republished
with despatch in this country, alta 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,
ing your enterprise anticipate your success, and
can only express the hope that your reward may
be equal to your merits l am your obedient
servant, WILLARD FILLMORE
From the Ne,o 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
to none in this country, have just commenced the
publication of a legal series, deserving the especial
attention Of the profession throughout the country
The basis of this series, of which the first num-
hariu hafnr fhA LINN nj IL "A
the Jurist. 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 advantagein this
country, for the purpose of obviatng the delay
which necessarily attends the issuing Of the regu
lar volumes Of reports of particular courts ; and
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-
fesson. The authority of Westminster Hall has lost
nothing of its sanction ; and the permanently high
character OF the English judiciary gives to their
ndjudications a continued weight and decisive in
huence 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 iurispru-
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 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
of the same date in our own courts appear in
the regular reports in which they perpetuatcd.
Nearly two years will thus be gained over the pre-
sent system, which requires delay until the large
volume of authorized reports is published the
other side and has then been reprinted on this
One advantage of the present series s, that the
decisions which it gives are those of courts in banc,
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 E. H. Bennett and
Chauncy Smith, csqs., of the Boston bar. and their
systematic arrangement, and the care with which
the notes, index, &C., arc prepared, evidence the
thorough manner in which the proposed series will
be carried out.
In this connection we take pleasure in advcrting
10 nd 9th