THE need of a work in relation to the matters treated in the following pages had been a long time felt by the author, before he was induced, at the suggestion of an eminent judge of this State, to undertake its preparation. *
The origin and rapid extension, within a comparatively recent period, of the law of set-off, and the further innovation upon common law rules by the introduction in several of the States of the modern doctrine of counterclaim, have led to a multitude of decisions in England and the United States, by which the principles governing these subjects have been molded into a connected and well established system of practice. But the frequency with which many of the ordinary topics connected therewith are discussed in the courts, seems to show that there is less familiarity, on the part of the profession generally, with this than perhaps with any other branch of the law. It is supposed that this has been mainly owing to the fact that the decisions are scattered through so many books of reports as not to be easily accessible; and it is sought in this work, as
The Treatise of Mr. Barbour on Set-Off, was published twenty-eight years ago.