Page:Legal Bibliography, Numbers 1 to 12, 1881 to 1890.djvu/28

 4 SOULE & BUGBEE'S LEGAL BIBLIOGRAPHY. BLIND CITATIONS. In our May number, we asked what the abbreviation "Asp. Law Jour." referred to. Several correspondents suggest that it means " Aspinall's Maritime Law Cases," which appeared in serial form, — and this conjecture is probably correct. A waggish Boston lawyer says, how- ever, that it refers obviously to the "Asperities of the Law Journals." Our attention has been called to the following blind citations, which we present to our readers as puzzles for solution : — Pat. Jac. L, p. i8. D. S. (see side note, 296 a. Dyer). N. C. C. 4 Aj. & C (probably a misprint). We shall be glad to have lawyers send us any obscure abbreviations they may come across in their reading. A NEW ENGLISH CHANCERY DIGEST. The important announcement is made of the publication in England of a new edition of Chitty's Equity Index. The last edition of this very valuable digest was published in four volumes, in 1853. Since then the chancery reports of De Gex, Macnaghten & Gordon ; De Gex & Jones ; De Gex, Fisher & Jones ; De Gex, Jones & Smith ; the Law Reports Equity Cases, Chancery Appeals, and Chancery Division ; half of Beavan's series ; Drewry ; Drewry & Smale ; Smale & GifFard ; Gifford ; Kay ; Kay & Johnson ; Johnson ; Johnson & Hemming, and Hemming & Miller ; — have been published ; — over one hundred volumes in all, besides the law periodi- cals and the Irish Reports; — nearly doubling the number of cases digested in the last edition. The full title is as follows: "Chitty's Index to all the Reported Cases decided in the several Courts of Equity in England, the Privy Council, and the House of Lords (with a selection of Irish Cases); on or re- lating to the Principles, Pleading, and Practice of Equity and Bankruptcy, from the earliest period. The Fourth Edition, wholly revised, reclassified, and brought down to the date of publication, by William Frank Jones and Henry Edward Hirst, Barristers-at-Law." It will be comprised in five or six volumes, very thick royal octavo. Vol. I (containing titles from Abandonment to Bankruptcy, inclusive) will be ready in February or March, and the other volumes will follow at short intervals. The title Bankruptcy will comprise a digest of all the cases on that subject, at common law as well as in equity. The publication price of the new edition will be from £1. 16.0 to £2.7.0 per volume, in half-calf binding. Adding the twenty-five per cent, ad valorem import duty, this amounts to from $11.25 to $14.50. As the volumes will contain a large amount of matter, this price is loy for an English law book. Fisher's Common Law Digest, when first published, was sold in this country for $20.00 per volume. By special arrangement with the publishers, however, we are enabled to offer it to subscribers, who take each volume as it appears, at the still more reasonable price of $8.00, net, per volume, either in full sheep binding, or in half law calf, the purchaser to pay cost of delivery. Lawyers or libraries wishing to get early copies, should send their sub- scriptions at once, (either directly to us, or through the booksellers from whom they usually buy), specifying whether they wish their volumes bound in sheep or in half calf. EWELL'S ESSENTIALS OF THE LAW. Under this title we are publishing a series of two or three pocket volumes, intended to comprise a condensed but accurate statement, based on the best authorities, of all the principal topics included in the ordinary course of law study. The author of the series is Prof. M. D. Ewell, well known as a legal author, and as a successful instructor in the Union Col- lege of Law at Chicago. The first volume (including Blackstone's Com- mentaries, see advertisement in another column) has just been published. The next volume, comprising Pleading, Contracts, and Equity, will be ready early next year. To students or lawyers who will give us their ad- dresses, we will send a circular of announcement in advance of publication. BOOKS FOR LAW STUDENTS. Among our recent publications we have the following, which are in- tended especially for students : — Ewell's Pocket Blackstone. Heard's Equity Pleading. Important English Statutes. Indermaur's Epitome of Leading Common Law Cases. Shirley's Leading Cases Made Easy. Ames' Cases on Bills and Notes. Besides these, our list includes two books which are valuable to stu- dents as works of reference, —Wallace's Reporters, and The Law- yer's Reference Manual of Law Books and Citations. For prices and particulars, see advertisements elsewhere in this paper. STUDENTS' EPITOME OF LEADING CASES. Indermaur's Epitome of Leading Common Law Cases, first pub- lished in England in 1873, has passed already through five editions. We shall publish, December 23, an American edition, with notes by Charles A. Bucknam and Bordman Hall. In the English preface Mr. Indermaur says : "The compiler of this small volume, while reading for his final examination, devoted some time to the study of leading cases, and it long ago occurred to him that ... a short epitome, giving those decisions most important to be read and remembered, would be very useful to students. Besides this, he has long thought tha tan epitome might be equally if not more useful to those who attentively read the large volumes ; for they can, after having done so, speedily run through a small manual like the present, and impress the chief decisions on their memories. "This epitome professes to be nothing particularly original, for it is, indeed, but an abridgment of the chief decisions in Smith's Leading Cases, with a few additional ones, and some short notes bearing directly on the different decisions." The American editors have briefly illustrated the rules laid down, by citing American authorities ; and, in a few instances, have extended the notes by additional matter and citations. As in the English edition, the book is so printed as to leave room for manuscript notes and additions. We shall sell this edition of Indermaur's Epitome of Common Law Cases, bound substantially in cloth, for $1.50, net. AMES' "CASES ON BILLS AND NOTES." This work, by Professor James Barr Ames, of Harvard University Law School, was prepared for the use of students, but the number and thorough- ness of the annotations, and the concise statement of the law of bills and notes contained in the summary, give it a peculiar value for practitioners also. The Preface says : "With the design of rendering these volumes useful to the practising lawyer, the editor has attempted to collect in foot- notes all the cumulative and adverse authorities, English and American, upon the points decided in the principal cases. In the summary, the editor, while aiming to state, as concisely as possible, the actual result of the decisions, has ventured to express, with considerable freedom, his opinion upon the points decided." The Souther)! Law Review of July-August, 1882, had a long and able review of the work, from which we extract the following : — The arrangement and classification of the cases is at once natural and scientific, differing from and simpler than that of the leading writers on this subject. . . . Under these heads are arranged a great number of cases (six hundred and thirty-nine are reported, either in full, or in full so far as they relate to the subject in hand), illus- trating every important question that the courts have considered in reference to negotiable paper. ... An examination of the index and summary will disclose the peculiar powers of condensation and analysis Prof. Ames has brought to the task.