TO THE HONORABLE JEREMIAH MASON, LL. D. SIR, I ESTEEM it a great privilege to have the opportunity of dedicating this work to you. Few circumstances in my life could be more grateful, than those, which enable me to inscribe on the pages, which contain my own imperfect juridical labors, the memorials of my private friendships, as well as the avowals of my reverence for the great, the good and the wise. Your own enviable distinction, so long held in the first rank of the profession, and supported by an ability and depth and variety of learning, which have had few equals, and to which no one can bear a more prompt and willing testimony than myself, would alone entitle you to a far higher tribute, than any I can bestow. I well know, that I speak but the common voice of the profession on this subject ; for they have well understood the vigor and the weight of that lucid argumentation, which has spoken in language for the cause, and not merely for its ornament; Neque id ipsum, tam leporis causâ, quam ponderis. But I confess myself more anxious to be allowed to consider this dedication, as a tribute to your exalted private worth, spotless integrity, and inflexible public principles, as well as a free expression of my own gratitude for your uniform friendship ; a friendship, which commenced with my first entrance among the Bar, in which you were then the acknowledged leader (a period, when the value of such unexpected kindness could not but be deeply felt, and fully appreciated), and which has continued, undiminished, up to the present hour. Such reminiscences are to me more precious than any earthly honors. They fade pot with the breath of popular applause ; and they cheer those hours, which, as age approaches, are naturally devoted to reflections upon the past, for instruction, as well as for consolation. I am, with the highest respect, your obliged friend, JOSEPH STORY. CAMBRIDGE, January 1, 1838. ON E QUITY PLEADINGS, AND THE INCIDENTS THEREOF, ACCORDING TO THE PRACTICE OF THE COURTS OF EQUITY, OF ENGLAND AND AMERICA. BY JOSEPH STORY, LL. D., ONE OF THE JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND DANE PROFESSOR OF LAW IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY. - Ordine Placitandi servato, servatur et jus." — Co. Litt .303. a. * In a consuetudine) autem jura sunt, quæ ipsa jam certa propter vetustatem; quo in THIRD EDITION, BOSTON: LONDON: M DCCC XLIV. |