OF LINCOLN'S INN, ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S COUNSEL, LATE RECORDER OF PORTSMOUTH. Quilibet scriptor adeo anxié sit solicitus, ut ad veritatem dicat, perinde ac si totius operis fides uniuscujusque periodi fide niteretur. PRÆF. 6 REP. EIGHTH EDITION, WITH CONSIDERABLE ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. AND W. T. CLARKE, LAW BOOKSELLERS, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN'S INN. ADVERTISEMENT TO THIS EIGHTH EDITION. Another impression of this work having been called for, the Compiler has embraced the opportunity of inserting the modern statutes and decisions, under the proper heads, with the exception of a small number, which will be found at the end of the second volume, in the Addenda. In other respects this Edition corresponds with the former. The additions have been confined within a reasonable compass, in order that the size of the volumes might not be inconvenient. Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, January, 1831. PREFACE. 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 trea. tise 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, (created Lord Apsley in 1771,) 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 |