Quilibet scriptor adeò anxiè sit solicitus, ut ad veritatem dicat, perinde ac si totius operis fides uniuscujusque periodi fide niteretur. PREF. 6 REF PRINTED FOR W. CLARKE AND SONS, LAW BOOKSELLERS, ADVERTISEMENT TO THIS FOURTH EDITION. In the present edition an alteration has been made in the arrangement of the second volume. The cases relating to Seamens' Wages, and the Ship Registry Acts, instead of being distributed, as in the former editions, under the titles of Master and Servant, and Trover, have been placed under a separate title of Shipping. The modern statutes and decisions have been introduced under the proper heads, except in a few instances, which, coming too late for insertion there, will be found among the Addenda. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION. ANOTHER impression of this work having been called for, the Compiler has embraced the opportunity to insert two new Chapters, under the titles of Mandamus and Quo Warranto, in which he has endeavoured to treat those important subjects in as full and comprehensive a manner as the nature of an abridgment will permit. The cases which have been decided since the publication of the second edition, are inserted under the proper heads. An Appendix, containing some practical forms, which may be useful at the sittings and assizes, has been subjoined; and the Index to the principal matters has been enlarged. In other respects, this edition corresponds with the former. Lincoln's Inn, PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE object of the following work is to investigate and explain that branch of jurisprudence, which teaches the nature and extent of the remedies prescribed by the law of England for the redress of private wrongs, or, as they are frequently termed, civil injuries. Considering the utility and importance of the subject, it cannot fail to excite the surprise of the reader, when he is informed that a well-digested treatise on the law of actions remained for so great a length of time a desideratum in the profession, that it was not until the year 1767, that an anonymous compilation, (the first deserving any notice) entitled "An Introduction to the Law relative to Trials at Nisi Prius," was published. The same work was republished by the late Mr. J. Buller, in the year 1772. Although the title page is silent as to this being a second edition, yet, from an examination of the contents, it appears very clearly that Mr. J. Buller's book is merely a republication of the anonymous treatise published in 1767. It is very remarkable, that at this day so many different opinions should exist as to the real author of this compilation; some persons ascribing it to Mr. Ford, others to the late Mr. J. Clive, and others to Mr. Bathurst. Unquestionably it was the received opinion at the bar, upon the first appearance of this work, that it had been compiled by Mr. Bathurst, afterwards Lord Apsley, for his own private use. But the dedication by Mr. Buller to Lord Apsley, prefixed to the edition in 1772, which must have escaped the notice of those persons who have so confidently ascribed this work to a different author, places the question beyond the reach of controversy. That dedi |