PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION.

In the preparation of this edition the Editor has pursued the same plan as in the third. He has deemed it however inexpedient unnecessarily, and without any corresponding advantage, to swell the volume by the addition of many cases, especially from the older States, which are merely in recognition of previously decided cases. For the same reason he has not added to the Appendix the statutes of those States upon which no adjudications have come to hand. Nevertheless, about four hundred additional cases, decided since the publication of the fourth edition, have been cited in their appropriate places, and the work will be found, as heretofore, a pretty nearly complete repertory of what is to be found in the books, of value upon the Law of Limitations.

FEBRUARY, 1869.

J. W. M.

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

FOR this new and third edition of the following work, the author, as the title-page imports, has been indebted to the learning and labor of J. W. MAY, Esq., of the Boston Bar, and the author cannot too strongly express satisfaction with the successful manner in which that gentleman has discharged the onerous duty he was persuaded to assume, of preparing for the press this new edition. An entire confidence is entertained that those of the profession who have occasion and are prompted to consult the work will cordially acknowledge their obligation to him.

The author, in this Preface, takes the liberty to state how much has been done by Mr. MAY. The number of cases in the last edition is seventeen hundred precisely; and the number in the new edition will vary very little, if at all, from twenty-four hundred and six, making an addition of seven hundred and six, or, in round terms, of over seven hundred cases. Some of these additional cases are, of course, cases in which no new point is decided; but as the book is intended for general use, it was thought it might be acceptable to the profession to have all the cases, in all the courts, so far as they have been reported, as very few of the profession have access to all the Re

ports, while every one has access to some.

Where no new point has been decided, the case is merely cited, as reported, in its appropriate place. In all instances where a new point has been decided, or one heretofore supposed to have been settled has been overruled, or important dicta or suggestions have been made, a note thereof has been carefully prepared. The notes added and included in brackets amount to about seventy pages, and if printed in the text would make an enlargement of the work of about one hundred and forty pages; so that, in fact, the book has, by Mr. MAY's labors, been enlarged about one third.

The Statutes of Limitation of the States of Florida, Iowa, Texas, and California have also been added to the Appendix, and the Index has been so altered as to make it conform to the new and improved arrangement by sections.

PROVIDENCE, Nov. 1, 1854.