PREFACE

TO THE FIFTH EDITION.

THIS Edition is, as will be noticed, shorter than the previous Edition by ten pages, reckoning the Appendix in both cases. This is mainly due to the Indian Evidence Act being taken out of the Appendix, and all references thereto eliminated from the body of the Work. We consider that as there are now several text-books available on the Law of Evidence in India, it is no longer needful or desirable to deal therewith in this Work. We have availed ourselves of the space set free by these omissions, and also by the omission of references to certain points of practice, which are now obsolete, to expand the range of subjects cognate to the Law of Evidence touched upon herein, and have, as we hope, thereby rendered the Work more useful, both to the practitioner, and to the student.

The law has been brought down so as to cover all cases reported up to December 31st, 1884. Such of the decisions reported between that date and the date of the last Edition upon subjects dealt with

PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION.

herein as are of sufficient importance have been incorporated into this Edition, although we have adhered to the principle of giving, as a general rule, only one authority for any proposition which requires authority.

We may observe that on reference to the Table of Cases it will be seen that it contains upwards of 330 cases that are not to be found in the Table in the last Edition, although, by reason of the omissions herein-before referred to, the present Table is longer than its predecessor by 74 cases only. It is also noticeable that the Index to the present Edition has been made fuller and more comprehensive.

Finally, we may remark that although we can hardly hope that there are no errata, we venture to believe that they are few, and we leave it as heretofore to the reader to insert his own addenda.

LINCOLN'S INN,

May, 1885.

JOHN CUTLER.

E. F. GRIFFIN..

PREFACE

TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

IN presenting the Fourth Edition of this Work to the profession and the public we desire to make the following prefatory remarks.

The Supreme Court of Judicature Acts, 1873 and 1875, have rendered necessary the excision of some of the matter contained in the preceding Edition and the remodelling of more. The latter task cannot, obviously, be satisfactorily performed until judicial decisions have settled the exact scope of many of the new Rules of Court.

We have availed ourselves of the space which has been set free by the dropping out of old matter to incorporate into the text many branches of law more or less intimately connected with Evidence, which were previously omitted in order to keep the work within a convenient size. Without putting forward any claim to that exhaustiveness which other works dealing with the Law of Evidence aim at, we venture to think that "Powell on Evidence" will now be found not only sufficiently complete for the student, but also for the general purposes of the practitioner.

A variation in the sequence of the chapters has been adopted with the view of producing a more symmetrical arrangement.

Many important statutes (in addition to the Judicature Acts) have been passed since the date (1868) of the last Edition of this Work: these will be found alluded to in the proper places. In addition to this, we have selected for incorporation into its pages the most valuable of the many judicial decisions, since the above date, bearing more or less directly on the Law of Evidence; but, while doing so, we have steadily adhered to the principle of not overloading the book with cases.

References to the corresponding Indian Law will be found in footnotes throughout the body of the Work; and the important and interesting Indian Evidence Act is given in extenso in the Appendix, together with, for the benefit of Indian practitioners, the decisions of the Indian Courts thereon up to a recent date noted against the proper sections.

JOHN CUTLER.

E. F. GRIFFIN.

LINCOLN'S INN,

August, 1875.