REPORTS OF CASES UPON APPEALS AND WRITS OF ERROR IN THE House of Lords, DURING THE FIRST SESSION OF THE FIFTH PARLIAMENT 53 GEO. III, 1813. BY P. DOW, Esa. OF LINCOLN'S INN, BARRISTER AT LAW. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR W. CLARKE AND SONS, LAW BOOKSELLERS, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN'S INN;, 1814. PREFACE. THE importance to the Profession of having regular Reports of the Cases decided in the last resort must be so obvious, and the desideratum which exists in this respect so well known, that it might appear unnecessary to say any thing here by way of notice, were it not for this peculiarity attending the present publication,-that it forms, perhaps, the first instance, as far as concerns the decisions of the House of Lords, in which a detailed view has been attempted to be given of the judicial speeches or observations explaining the grounds and principles upon which these decisions rest. The compilation by Mr. Brown, and the Appendix by Mr. Tomlins, though their utility is universally acknowledged, are unavoidably defective in this most material particular. It is hoped, therefore, that a work in which it is endeavoured to combine that kind of advantage derived from the publications just mentioned, with another essential advantage in which they are necessarily deficient, may be found not altogether without its value. a 2 It may probably likewise be considered as particularly desirable that the grounds of these determinations should be rendered public at this moment, when to the high authority of the noble and learned Lord who now presides in the House of Lords is added the no less distinguished authority of the late Lord Chancellor of Ireland, who takes so large a share in the judicial business of that House. Though none of the Scottish cases appear to have been before published here, with the exception of those inserted in Mr. Tomlins's Appendix, it has been deemed advisable to include them in this collection for several reasons; among which the following obviously present themselves : 1st, The similarity, in the jurisprudence of both countries, of the grounds and principles upon which the decisions in many of these cases depend; a circumstance which must tend to render such of the English and Irish, as well as the Scotch cases, as come under this description, reciprocally useful, 2d, The frequency with which many gentlemen of the first eminence in the profession from the Courts of Law and Equity are called upon, especially since the recent regulation in regard to judicial business in the House of Lords, to argue the Scotch Cases in that House; which makes an acquaintance with Scotch law, and the grounds of decision in Scotch cases, an object of considerable consequence even to the English lawyer. 3d, The indispensable necessity of a knowledge of the Scottish jurisprudence as a qualification for the highest situation in the profession in England; and, 4th, The extraordinary inconvenience that has been experienced in regard to the Scotch cases particularly, from a want of the means of ascertaining the precise grounds upon which the House of Lords had decided some of the most important questions of Scottish law; a circumstance which makes it useful to the English lawyer, and of the last importance to the profession in Scotland, that, with respect to future decisions, this inconvenience should, if possible, be prevented. Though Mr. Brown's plan, of " giving a full "report, not merely an abridgment, of the whole case, collected from the state of each party," and of "throwing the printed reasons into the form of an argument," was perhaps the most proper that could be adopted in his circumstances, and in a work limited to English cases; yet it would be manifestly inexpedient to adhere to it exactly in the conduct of the present publication. The printed statements may be more or less partially used, or |