The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-10-08
ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW AND
EQUITY.

! Proposals By LITTLE & BRowE, III Washington
street. Boston, for publishing by subscription
series Of LalD and Equity Reports.
THE 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
knowledged To peet similar want in England,
the ''Lalo Journal Reports" and ssIhe JIuiSt, -
which, together report decisions In all the Courts IN
/ Lao 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 high cost, how
ever, 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 as fast 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-
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.
I
plete volume by itself, well as part of an en-
tire series. Every alternate or second number will
be PACED consecutivey from the number imne-
djately preceding and will contain table of cases.
and Of contents to BOTH and thus form q complete
volume, ready for binding, of oue siThundred 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 pERMASEsT 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 tloo years before they
could oierlose 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 aad uniformly bound in law
sheep, $l2.
The parts will be sold separately, ii desired, at
S each.
Single volume, bound, 81 25.
Parts !. and H.. stitched, or VOL l., bound in law
sheep, containing reports of 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-
ber
Letter from Hon nIard Fillmore, President of the
United States.
WAsHINoToN, April 10 1851.
JAMES BRowN, ESQ.,: My DEAR SGa-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 profounde5t 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 90 condensed'' form. This condemnation
however, consisted, not in an abbreviaton If each
Gaze, but selection from the several cases, and
was often annoyed by finding a reference to cases
in the Digests, which ] deemed very important
wholly omitted in the 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 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 Netc York Literary World
Mcesrs Little s Brown, of Boston, whose law
W
with the best similar issues of the English press
and in point of value and importance arc 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, the LaiU Journal Reports and
the J,nist, 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 advanta ee 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 of legal pub
lishcrS avaiing themselves of ii, to introduce the
English Reports promptly and regularly to the pro-
fesson. The authority of Westminster Hall has lost
nothing of it's sanction ; and the permanently high
character OF the English judiciary gives to their
adiudications continued weight and decisive in
huence 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 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 & 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 our courts appear in
the regular repOrt5 IN WnlCn tney 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 h - hen been reprinted on this
One advantage II the present series is, that the
decisions which ~ gives those of courts in 6anc
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, 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 conncxion take pleasure in adverting
to Messrs. Little and Browns other legal pubca-
tons, among which arc included many the most
conspicuous and authoritative treatses 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 TO the legal profession
have all issued from their press; as have also the
several works of Professor Greenleaf. 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
heti sivle both refcrknce and nreservatioY,