BY BENJ. VAUGHAN ABBOTT,

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

HENRY M. TOBITT, Printer and Stereotyper, 350 PEARL-ST., N. Y.

PREFACE.

To present the adjudications of the United States Circuit and District Courts, in a comprehensive and satisfactory manner, is the general purpose of this series

The progress of our national jurisprudence is embodied in the laws passed by Congress, the decisions of the Supreme Court, and those decisions of Circuit or District Courts which are not reviewed on writ of error or appeal; in addition to which should be mentioned the determinations of the Court of Claims, as covering one important though limited department. Systematic and satisfactory arrangements now exist (relying partly upon government aid) for the prompt publication of the acts of Congress, and for regular reports of the adjudications of the Supreme Court and of the Court of Claims. If the system of reporting the important decisions of the Circuit and District Courts can be made comprehensive and reliable, there will then be in operation a complete scheme, presenting the progress of the entire jurisprudence developed under the operation of the national government.

To some extent the decisions of the Circuit and District Courts are now reported. There is, for the first circuit, a special series of Circuit Court Reports, almost unbroken; and for the second, another, nearly, though not quite, as continuous. In some other circuits there are valuable reports covering limited periods. But there remain some circuits which are almost wholly unreported.