13 Gray's Sun Sof WC.

EDWARD JENKS, ESQ., M.A., B.C.L.

With the co-operation of the following gentlemen, who have undertaken the revision of portions in which they have special knowledge.

W. ASHBURNER, ESQ., M.A.,

FORMERLY ASSISTANT READER IN EQUITY TO THE COUNCIL OF LEGAL EDUCATION; Author of Principles of Equity."

C. A. MONTAGUE BARLOW, ESQ., LL.D.,

OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE AND LINCOLN'S INN,

T. WILLES CHITTY, ESQ.,

A MASTER OF THE SUPREME COURT.

HUGH FRASER, ESQ., LL.D.,

READER IN COMMON LAW TO THE COUNCIL OF LEGAL EDUCATION.

W. M. GELDART, ESQ., M.A.,

OF LINCOLN'S INN; FELLOW AND TUTOR OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD.

J. M. GOVER, ESQ., LL.D.,

EXAMINER TO THE COUNCIL OF LEGAL EDUCATION.

W. M. GRAHAM-HARRISON, ESQ., M.A., B.C.L.,

OF LINCOLN'S INN; LATE FELLOW OF ALL SOULS COLLEGE, OXFORD.

F. W. HIRST, ESQ., B.A.,

OF THE INNER TEMPLE.

E. M. KONSTAM, ESQ.,

OF THE INNER TEMPLE.

J. C. LEDLIE, ESQ., M.A., B.C.L.,

OF H.M. PRIVY COUNCIL OFFICE,

ALEXANDER MACMORRAN, ESQ., K.C., M.A.,
One of the Editors of “ Lumley's Public Health."

H. STUART MOORE, ESQ.,

One of the Editors of “ Abbott's Shipping."

J. A. SIMON, ESQ., M.A.,

OF THE INNER TEMPLE; FELLOW OF ALL SOULS COLLEGE, OXFORD.

AND

J. ANDREW STRAHAN, ESQ., LL.B.,

ASSISTANT READER IN THE LAW OF REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY AND CONVEYANCING TO THE COUNCIL OF LEGAL EDUCATION.

[NOTE.

BARRISTERS-AT-LAW,

GEORGE HOLDEN, ESQ.,

AND

L. H. WEST, ESQ., LL.D.,

TUTOR TO THE LAW SOCIETY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

SOLICITORS OF THE SUPREME COURT.

Each of the above-named Assistant-Editors is responsible only for those chapters of the Work to which his name is prefixed in the Table of Contents.]

MR. SERJEANT STEPHEN'S

New Commentaries

ON THE

LAWS OF ENGLAND

(PARTLY FOUNDED ON "BLACKSTONE.")

BY

HIS HONOUR JUDGE STEPHEN.

“For hoping well to deliver myself from mistaking, by the order and perspicuous
expressing of that I do propound, I am otherwise zealous and affectionate to recede as
"little from antiquity, either in terms or opinions, as may stand with truth, and the
"proficience of knowledge.”—Lord Bacon, Adi, of Learning.

Fourteenth Edition.

UNDER THE GENERAL EDITORSHIP OF

EDWARD JENKS, ESQ., M.A., B.C.L.,

Of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law;

PRINCIPAL AND DIRECTOR OF LEGAL STUDIES TO THE LAW SOCIETY;

READER IN ENGLISH LAW IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, TUTOR AND LECTURER OF
BALLIOL COLLEGE; FORMERLY SENIOR STUDENT AND BARSTOW LAW SCHOLAR
OF THE COUNCIL OF LEGAL EDUCATION, AND FELLOW OF
KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.

THOROUGHLY REVISED AND MODERNISED, AND
BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME.

BUTTERWORTH & CO., 12, BELL YARD, TEMPLE BAR, W.C.

Law Publishers.

LONDON BUTTERWORTH & Co., PRINTERS, 2, CRANE COURT, E.C.

PREFACE

TO THE FOURTEENTH EDITION.

By the General Editor.

THE position of one who is, for the first time, called upon to edit a work of the standing and long

popularity of Stephen's Commentaries, is not altogether enviable.

On the one hand, he cannot

but feel it something in the nature of sacrilege to alter a text which has, by long association, assumed an almost canonical character; on the other, he is bound to realise, that the sweeping changes which have taken place in the many branches of English Law, since the Work first made its appearance, necessitate a vigilant criticism and a fearless pruning, if the book is to be taken as an accurate exponent of existing facts.

So far as the material of the work is concerned, this latter consideration has been found to be overwhelming. The Editor has been given a free