The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-03-16
ENGLISH REPORTS IN LAW AND
EQUITY.


EQUITY.
Proposals by LITTLE & BRowS, ll2 Vashingto,
street, Boston for publishing by subscription neu
seriesy Lar aud Equity Reports.
5 lNHE want of some system by which the decisions
1 and judicial opinions of the several Courts Of
law and Equity in England can be more prompt
~ and cheapiy furnished to the legal profession in
this country has long been seriously felt and ac-
khowledged TO meet similar WANT England
, the "Late Journal Reports" and ssIhe J,rist -
| winch, together report decisions in aHthe Courts in
hap ana Equity, within few weeks after their
ueilVery, 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-
iatlon IN this country, and their merits yet
out ittle known among US.
Inc subscribers propose to republish these
porte IN full as fast they appear in England and
can be received here. They will contain reports
Oh cases decided in the House of Lords, the Privy
CGuncl 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 aud Canal
Cases.
There reports will be published in numbers or
parts, commencing with the decisions of Michael
mas (Novcmbcr) term, 1880 and will be carefully
ealleu by member OF the bar, with notes and
terences TO analogous American decisions.
Each number will consist of over three hundred
pages closely printed octave, on the best paper and
~ clear, fair type, and will contain table Of cases.
! and full table Of contents, thus forming com
| pete volume by itself, well part of an en-
IRE series. Every alternate or second number will
| be PACED consecutively from the number imme-
diately preceding and will contain table of cases,
ana OF contents to both, and thus form complete
volume ready for binding, ouer sir 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
July equal to the best reports OF England or this
| country.
| Its designed to make this a PERMANENT PUBL
CATION, and thus establish neto series of English
Law and Equity Reports, which shall, in all
spects, be Tar III 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 t,oo gears before they
could otherwise bs obtained, and long before the pub
iicaton of the contemporaneous decisions of most
OF our own tribunals
The price of this publication will be s 10 for
twelve numbers, payable in advance, or for the elk
volumes, handsomely and uniformly bound in law
sheep, : II.
The parts will be sold separately, il desired at
81 each.
Single volume, bound So %.
Parts |. and H., stitched, Vol. l., bound in law
sheep, contaipng reports of hundred and
eighty eight cases, now rea.y for delivery.
The following among the opinions of this
work expressed on the publication of the first num-
letter from Hon. billiard Fillmore, President of the
United States.
T. WAsHNaToN, April Is 1851.
JAMES Bgows, ESQ: My DEAR 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 inquring
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 proioundest 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
come years ] had been in the habit of receiving
these in IS 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 a reference to cases
In the Digests, which i 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.
II the English Reports entire, can be republished
with despatch in this country, price SO low az
70 BRING them within the reach of the members of
the bar generally, conceive that il 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. | your obedienl /
servant WILLARD FILLMORE
Messrs. Little S Brown Of Boston, whose law !
looks, in point Of typographical execution, vic I
with the best similar issues Of the English press
and ia point of value and importance are inferior
10 none IN this country, have just commenced the /
publication Of legal series, deserving the cspccal
attention Of the profession throughout the country
The basis OF this series, Of which the first num-
Der is before Us, are the Ian Journal RepOrts and /
the .Isgisf, two English serials which communicate
10 the British Bar. within few weeks after their
delivery, the prominent decisions of all the ccrts
from the House OF Lords To the Court OF BANKRUPT
cy, and other tribunals of limited but practically
important jurisdiction. This excellent arrange
nCnt might be followed with great advantage in this /
country, for the purpose of Obviating the delay /
which necessarily attends the issuing Of the rcgu-
lar volumes of reports Of particular courts aud b
glad 10 see the enterprise Of our legal pub I
fishers uyailing themselves OF it, to Introduce the
English Reports promptly aud regularly to the pro- I
lcssion. The authority Of Westmlntc Hall has lost
nothing of its sanction and the permanently high .
character Of the English judiciary gives TO their
adJudications continued weight and decisive in .
huencc with our courts. Hitherto the difficulty has
been that the reported Case8 there have grown old
before they could be quoted and applied mere and /
there was no way in which the current iurispru- /
dcucc and adjudications Of the day in the English
courts could be made available by the American /
bar, except at great expense and by continual yigi-
lance. This difficulty Mcssrs. Little & Browns .
Reports will remove; the cases decided in the +
Quccn's Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Er
cLoqucr Chamber In January, will be ready for de
livery here IN April or May, long efOre adiudgcd I
cases Of the same date in our own courts appear in
the regular reports ia which they are perpctuatcd
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.
One advantage Vt the present series is, that the .
decisions which II gives those Of courts in banc
the deliberate judgments Of the bench, aud not the |
lczs reliable decisions at Niyt BritS, which how |
ever interesting in many instances, do not carry
with them the same authority and force.
The Reports are edited by T. IL Bennett and |
Chauncy Smith, csqs, Of the Boston bar. and their
systemotic 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 conueHiOn VIC take pleasure iu advcrtng /
60 Mcssrs. Little and Browns other legal pubica.
lions, among which arc included many ofthe most /
conspicuous and authoritative troatiscB Of our uris
prudence. Judpc StOry's worka for ming n LI,ary