The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-06-17
ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW And

Proposals Jy LlrrLE & BRowN, ll2 Warrington
street, Boston, for publishing by subscription nsw
series Of. Lao and Equity Rports
V'HE want of some system by which the decisions
Il and judicial opinions of the several Courts OF
Law and Equity in England can be moro prompt
ly and cheaply furnished to the legal profession in
this country, has long been seriously felt and &C
knowledged. To meet q similar want in England,
the "Laio Journal Reports and "1hs Jurist,
which, together, report decisions in all the Courts in
Lap and Equity, within few weeks after their
delivery, were commenced a 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
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
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-
ferenccs TO analogous American decisions.
Each number will consist Of over three hundred
pages closely printed octavo on the best paper, and
and full table Of contents, thus forming com
plete volume by ITSELF well part of an en-
tire series. Every alternate or 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 orer siI 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
tits designed to make this PERMANENT PULL
At. Il - l.fE ~l..1
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 ote,oise be obtained and long before the pub
LEGATION of tho 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
: each
Single volume, bound, So 25.
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
work expressed the publication Of the first num-
Der:
Letter from Hon. Miilard Fillmore, President Of the
United States.
WAsHINGToN, April -, 1851.
JAMES BRowN, ESQ: MY Dean 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 case reported in England; and
now have your letter of the 9Th instant inquiring
my opinion OF the enterprise.
While pursuing my profession, took a deep in.
tercst in publications of this kind. The able
judges who have adorned the judicial tribunals of
England, have shed a lustre upon the Common
Law and illumned it's profoundest depths. I con-
slider 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 a condensed" form. This condensation,
however, consisted, not in an abbrcviaton OF each
case, but selection from tho several cases, and
was often annoyed by finding reference to cases
in the Digess, which deemed very important.
wholly omitted in the Sc condensed reports" l
therefore hailed with great effort which
was made some time since to repubish the whole.
If the English Reports entire, can be rcpubshed
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 1t will confer
great benefit upon the profession and the judiciary,
and consequently upon the country ut large. Know
can only express the hope that your reward may
be equal to your merits. l am your obcdent
servant, WILLARD FILLMORE.
From, tie Ne,c York Literary World.
Messrs Little s. Brown, of Boston, whose law
books, in point of typographical execution, vie
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 num-
Der ia before US, are the L1lo Journal Reports and
the Jurist two English serials which communicate
to the British Bar, within a 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 are glad to see the enterprise ofour legal pub
fishers availing themselves OF it, to introduce the
English Reports promptly and regularly to the pro-
icsson. The authority of Westminster Hall has lost
nothing of its sanction and the permanently high
character of the English judiciary gives to their
adjudicatons a continued weight and decisive in
fluence 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 way in which the current jurispru-
dcnce 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 Mcssrs. Little & Browns
| Reports will remove; the cases decided in the
! Queens Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Ex-
chequer Chamber in january, will b ready for de-
| livery here in April or May, long before adjudged
cases of the same date in courts appear in
| the regular reports in which they are perpetuated.
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 is that the
decisions which it gives 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. II. Bennett and
Chauncy Smith, csqs., Of the Boston bar. and their
systematic arrangement, and the with which
the notes, index, &C., are prepared, evidence the
| be carried out.
| In this connexon we take pleasure in advertng
| TO Messrs. Little and Browns other legal publca.
tons, among which included many of the most
conspicuous and authoritative reatscs of our iuris-
! prudence. Judge Story's works, for ming library
almost OF themselves, and familiar for their high
value and extensive reputation to American read
have all issued from their press; as have also the
| eeveral worlss OF Professor Grcenleaf Two very