Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. CAMBRIDGE: PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. PREFACE TO AMERICAN EDITION. THE modesty of the author of this little book did not permit him to tell the whole truth in his title-page. More than half the work is devoted to a statement of the principles of Corporeal Hereditaments; and, though this was doubtless intended as subordinate to the subject of Conveyancing, and as a mere preliminary step, the truth is, that Mr. Deane, in carrying out his purpose, has written an admirable Epitome of the Law of Corporeal Hereditaments, as well as of Conveyancing. The American editor has therefore ventured, while retaining the author's title, to add another of the above tenor. The text of the author has been left untouched. To improve upon it were a difficult task; and the editor did not care to try it. The new matter is given in brackets in the notes, and consists, in the main, of such explanations of the text as were thought desirable, and of such qualifications as were important to the American lawyer. It was deemed unnecessary to cite additional cases for all the numerous elementary principles of the book. Few of the propositions, indeed, need the support of authorities. An examination of Mr. Deane's work will justify the editor in the statement, that for practical instruction in the fundamental rules of real property law, and for aid to the conveyancer in drafting deeds and in detecting flaws in bad ones, few have written to such purpose as the author. BOSTON, March 1, 1875. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. THE plan of this book has not, it is believed, been adopted in any previous work, with the exception of Watkins' Principles of Conveyancing, the last edition of which, although published some thirty years ago, is still in considerable demand. So many changes have taken place since then in the law and practice of conveyancing that the Author has ventured to hope that there may be room for another treatise of a somewhat similar nature. The present work, however, is purely elementary; it contains nothing which is not familiar to the practitioner, and aims only at the assistance of students entering upon the difficulties of real property law. The second part comprises, in substance, some lectures delivered by the Author at the Law Institution in the years 1873 and 1874, and is inserted here by the kind permission of the Council of the Incorporated Law Society. LINCOLN'S INN, October, 1874. |