The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-01-01
ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW AND
Equity.

ton OF the legal profession. Their high COST, now
ever, has hitherto prevented their general circu
iation in this country, and their merits are as yet
| but little known among va.
The subscribers propose to republish these re,
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 Exchcquer and Exchequcr 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
| parts, commencing with the decisions OF Michael
mas (November) term, 1850, and will be carefully
edited by a member of the bar, with notes and re-
| lerences 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 full table of contents, thus forming com
pletc volume by itself, well as part OF an en-
tire series. Every alternate or second number will
be PACED consecutively from the number imme-
diatey preceding, and will contain table OF cases,
and of contents to both, and thus form complete
volume, ready for binding, of oper 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 thebest reports OF England or this
country.
His designed to make this a PERMANENT PUBL
CATION and thus esablish 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 tco years before they
could ot,cse be obtained, and long before the pub
LEGATION OF the contemporancous decisions oi 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 aild uniformly bound in law
sheep, SIP.
The parts will be sold separately, II desired, at
= each.
Singie volume, bound, So %.
Parts |. and H. stitched, or Vol |. bound i'll law
sheep, containing reports OF one hundred and
eighty eight cases, now ready for delivery.
The following arc among the opinions OF this
work expressed ON the publication of the first num-
Letter from Hon. Willard Fillmore, President Of the
United States.
WAsHINGToN, April - 1851.
JAMES RaowN, Esq: MY DEAR Sln-Somc days
since | received, by the hand of the Postmaster
General, the first number of the English Reports,
which you propose to republish III this country,
comprising every reported in England; and
now have your letter of the 9th instant, nquiring
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
Eng nd, have shed lustre upon the Common
Law and iumned its profoundest depths. con-
slider law library complete that does not contain
their principal reports in Law and Equity, and in
thrir 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 abbreviation OF each
case, but a selection from the several cases. and
was often annoyed by finding reference to cascs
in the Digests, which ! deemed very important,
wholly omitted in the CONDENSED reports" |
therefore hailed with great pleasure an effort which
was made tlme since TO republish the whole.
II the English Reports entire, can be republishcd
with despatch in this country, at a price SO low as
To bring them within the reach OF the members of
the bar generally conceive that IT will confer 4
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 inertia. i am your obedicnt
servant WILLARD FILLMORE
From sie Ne,v York Literary Uorid
Messrs. Little * Brown, of Boston, whose law
hooks 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 the country
The basis OF this series, of which the first mum
Der is before us, the Latr Journal Reports and
the ytlyist two English serials which communicate
10 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 bat practically
important jurisdiction. This excellent arrange
mcnt mi ght be followed with great advanagoin THE
country, for the purpose OF obviating the delay
which necessarily attends the issuing of the rcgu
lar volumes Of reports OF particular courts and
We are glad TO see the enterprise Of our legal pub
fishers availng themselves OF IL, To introduce the
English Reports promptly and regularly TO the pro-
fesson The authority of w estminster 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
hucnce 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
I there was way IN which the current jurispru-
dence and adjudcations of the day in the English
] cattid ne ~
BAR except at great expense and by continual vigil
I lance. This difficulty Mesers. Little Browns
/ Reports will remove; the cases decided in the
I Queens Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Ell
/ chequcr Chamber in January, will be ready for de-
livery here in April or May, long before adjudged
cases Of the same date in our own courts appear in
/ the regular reports in which they perpetuatcd
! Nearly two years will thus DC 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.
One advantage OF the present series Is, that the
decisions which IL gives those Of courts in bdnc
the deliberate judgments of the bench aud not the
less reliable decisions at Nisi Priu, which, how
J ever interesting in many instances, do not carry
| with them the saline authority and force.
| The Reports edited by r. II Bennett and
Cbauncy 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 tbis connexon VIC take pleasure in advcrting
|
tons, among which included many OF the most
nBpicuOus and authoritative trcatises of jurs-
prudence. Judge story's works, for ming a library
almost Of themselves, and familiar for their high
! value and extensive reputation 10 American read
ere in general, well az 10 the legal profession
have ali issued from their press as have also tho
, several works OF Professor Greenlcai. Two very
voluahle and "a tenBivc annual publications arc asC
, I.sucd by them, the United States Digest and th,
Statute. al 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 al
Washington, which included the annual statutes
and sent them forth to the world thin pa per
IN lad type.
From The Ncio York Ebning Post.
Little Il Brown, of Boston, to whose entsrpris,
the reading public has often been indebted fo
4 the most valuable American and foreign books
r propose 10 publish, by subscription, n series q
= the English Reports in Law and Equity. This 81
ries will contain all the authoritative decisions
tic House Of Lords, the Courts OF Equity. the Priv
n Court, the Queens Bench, the EIchcquer, Common
A Pleas, sc.