PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. Now that the Common Law Commissioners have made their third and final Report, the proper time seems to have come for presenting to the Profession a complete collection of the fruits of their valuable labours. The mere gathering together the Common Law Procedure Acts of 1852, 1854 and 1860, and the Rules of Court which have been made by the Judges in order to facilitate their application, would be a very imperfect display of the vast reforms which have been effected by these statutes, and, under them, by the Judges, who have administered the new laws with the most scrupulous and successful regard to the expressed intentions of the Legislature, and to the true benefit of the suitors. The Editor has, therefore, carefully collected all the reported cases which can assist the Practitioner and the Student to the right understanding and application of the several provisions of these important statutes, and has subjoined notes to assist in the interpretation of those enactments which have not yet definitively received an authoritative construction. He has, moreover, added, with cases and notes, the Bills of Exchange Act, 1855, the Mercantile Law Amendment Act, 1856, the Interpleader Acts, and several other Statutes; so as to embody within a small compass the whole of the recent legislation which affects the practice of the Superior Courts of Common Law. The excellent editions of the Common Law Procedure Acts of 1852 and 1854, by Mr. R. M. Kerr, now the Judge of the Sheriff's Court of the City of London, furnish the groundwork of this Volume; and to that gentleman the present Editor is moreover greatly indebted for much and valuable assistance, even upon those topics which had not presented themselves for discussion at the time of Mr. Kerr's publications. To his learned friend, Mr. O. B. C. Harrison, the Editor is indebted for the full and convenient Index, which will be found to connect together the various provisions of all the Statutes, Rules of Court, and Cases cited throughout the Book. As great pains have been taken to collect in the Addenda the cases which have been determined while the book has been passing through the press, the Reader is respectfully requested to note them up in their proper places. MIDDLE TEMPLE, February, 1861. |