ARGUED AND DETERMINED IN Kid The Court of King's Bench, DURING HILARY, EASTER, AND TRINITY TERMS, IN THE SECOND AND THIRD GEO. IV. BY JAMES DOWLING, Esg. of the Middle Temple, AND ARCHER RYLAND, Esq. OF GRAY'S INN, BARRISTERS AT LAW. VOL. I. WITH AN INDEX, AND TABLE OF PRINCIPAL MATTERS. LONDON: Printed by S. Brooke, Paternoster Row, FOR S. SWEET, 3, CHANCERY-LANE; R. PHENEY, INNER ADDRESS. IN presenting to the Profession the first volume of The New Term Reports, the Editors cannot refrain from expressing a hope that their present claim upon public attention will receive a candid and indulgent consideration. The peculiar circumstances under which their exertions have been elicited, render them perhaps more than commonly alive to the difficulties of their situation, and the following pages, therefore, have been committed to the press with no ordinary degree of solicitude for their fate. Although the attempt to establish a second series of Term Reports is by no means novel, still they cannot but be aware of the disadvantages incurred by an unavoidable competition with a similar work already established in public favour. Whatever diffidence they might have felt in encountering the responsibilities of the task, on this ground, they did not consider themselves justified in declining it under the circumstances which have induced the publish a 2 ers to embark in the undertaking. Called upon, in their professional character, to execute the work, and not courting the perils of criticism from personal motives, they cheerfully submit the present volume to the judgment of those by whom they are confident its merits will be appreciated with candour and liberality. Far is it from their wish to under-value what has been done by others; and as little are they disposed, unduly, to commend their own labours; but acting upon principles which they presume cannot be objected to, they enter a field wherein there seems to be yet room for useful exertion, and their station in it they will struggle to maintain with an ambition which, even if it shall fall short of complete success, it must at least be deemed venial to have cherished. Thus much they have thought it necessary to state, to prevent any possible misconception of their motives, and beyond this, all they have personally to intreat is, a fair and impartial examination of the Work as regards its professional accuracy and usefulness. The duty of a Reporter, even under the highest encouragement and patronage, is an anxious, a laborious, and with reference to his reputation, a momentous one. By none, perhaps, except those who have been actually engaged in a similar pursuit can the assiduity, anxiety, and research necessary to the completion of his task, be duly estimated. Per fection, under any circumstances, he cannot expect; but to attain even ordinary success, every faculty of the mind must be employed; and unwearied attention, laborious study, and persevering diligence must be practised, in order to render his Reports faithful, perspicuous, and concise. To the best of their abilities, and with the most anxious wish to do justice to so important a charge, the Editors have struggled, certainly under disadvantageous circumstances, to give to The New Term Reports, these characteristics. Their first and most confident hope, is, that their motives for coming before the public will not be misinterpreted: beyond that, and as it regards the execution of the Work, their expectations ought, perhaps, to be satisfied, if it pass the ordeal of public opinion without censure, however impossible it is for them, as its Editors, to be indifferent to the stimulus of applause. The Editors cannot conclude this short Address, without endeavouring to express their warmest gratitude for the kind sympathy, the constant encouragement, the friendly countenance and co-operation which they have experienced from every member of the Profession, with whom they have had occasion to confer, in the progress of their labours. From a Body so distinguished for enlarged views and liberal feelings, no other line of conduct could indeed be expected; but its effect upon the Editors has not |