The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-08-16
ENGLISH REPORTS IN Law AND
E0IJITY.

TINE want of some system by which the decisions
IL and judicial opinions of the several Courts Of
Law and Equity in England can be more prompt
y and cheapy furnished to the legal profession in
this country has long been seriously felt and ac-
knowIedged To meet similar want in England,
the "LaIo Journal Reports" and "1he Jttrist,"
which, together report decisions In all the Courts IA
LaID and Equity, within few weeks after their
delivery were commenced q 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 US.
The subscribers propose TO republish these
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 (Noyember) 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 octavo the best paper and
in clear fair type, and will tain table of cases,
and full table of contents, thus forming COM
plete volume by itself, as well as part OF an en-
tire series. Every alternate or second number will
be PACED consecutively from the number imme-
djatey preceding, and will contain table of cases,
and of contents to both and thus form complete
volume, ready for binding of over sic 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 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 oerloise 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, or for the six
volumes handsomely and uniformly bound in law
sheep, $l2.
The parts will be sold separately, If desired at
81 each.
Single volume, bound So %.
Parts /. 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 the publication of the first num-
Letter from Hon. Miard Fillmore, President Of The
United States.
WASHINGTON, April 10, 1851.
JAMES BRowN, ESQ: MY DEAR SlR-Some days
since / received, by the hand of the Postmaster
General the first number of the English Reports
which you propose to repubsh 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 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
a
however, consisted, not in abbreviaton of each
CAGE, but 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 &c condensed reports"
therefore hailed with great pleasure effort which
was made some time since to republish the whole
If the English Reports entire can be repubshed
with despatch in this country at price so low
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 obedent
servant, WILLARD FILLMORE.
From the Neir York Literary JVorld
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 thncevntry.
The basis of this series, of which thep tbemm-
| Der is before us, the Lato Journal Rig Leland
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
! Cyl 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 rcg11
/ 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-
fcssion. The authority of Westminster Hall has lost
nothing of its sanction and the permanently high
character OF the English Judiciary gives to their
adludications 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 jurispru-
dence and adludlcations 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 & Brown s
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 adjudgcd
cases of the same date in own courts appear in
| the regular reports in which they perpetuated.
Nearly two years will thus be gained over 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.
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. H. Bennett and
Chauncy Smith, esqs., 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 take pleasure in advcrting
TO Messrs. Little and Browns other legal publca-
| tions among which are included many of the most
conspicuous and authoritative treatiscs of our iurs-
prudence. Judge Story's works, for ming a 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; have also the
several works Of Professor Greenleaf. Two very
valuable and extensive annual publications 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 thin paper and
| in bad type.