THE LAW OF RAILWAYS: EMBRACING CORPORATIONS, EMINENT DOMAIN, CONTRACTS, BY ISAAC F. REDFIELD, LL.D., CHIEF JUSTICE OF VERMONT. FOURTH EDITION, GREATLY ENLARGED. VOL. I. BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. LIBRARY OF THE LELAND STANFORD JR. UNIVERSITY. A28955 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Vermont. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Vermont. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. CAMBRIDGE: PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. IN presenting this edition of our first book to the profession, we have to crave the indulgence of an elder brother, in alluding briefly to the origin and history of the work. The book was undertaken at a period when we had it in our power to command considerable portions of time, in every year, for uninterrupted study. The work was therefore prepared with great labor and care; and so carefully printed as to attract special attention abroad on that account. It was everywhere received in a spirit, and with a degree of cordial commendation, both at home and abroad, which the author had scarcely dared to expect. But it was gratifying to feel that his efforts to give the entire law upon every topic he touched, as fully as if a special brief had been prepared upon the particular points, and, as nearly, as might be allowable, in the form of successive judicial opinions upon the several subjects, was duly appreciated by the profession, or certainly by those who had leisure and opportunity to examine the work carefully. But for some reasons the first two editions did not obtain so extensive a sale as to become at all remunerative for the very large amount of labor bestowed. This led us to sus |