University of PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. THE number of law books each year presented to the attention of the profession is really so enormous that the propriety of adding yet a further one, new either in form or composition, to the mass, is a matter of serious consideration, and its advent is an event almost commanding an apology; but in this case the topic, and the thorough way in which the author has treated it, as well as the high opinion it has won from the profession in England should recommend it both to students and practitioners, and should secure it a favorable reception. As the author has himself said of the work he had undertaken, he aimed to gather under the head of general rules, the established doctrines and decisions concerning Parties to Actions-and to concentrate in one work what was scattered through many and as he aimed, he has done. The editor of the present Edition undertakes none but the simple task of filling out the lines when |