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PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION.

THE reader will find the Maxims, except in one instance, arranged in the same order as heretofore, and the system adopted by the late Dr. Broom in the preparation of the earlier editions of the Work has been followed. The Index alone has been re-arranged; each principal Maxim is inserted in the Index (as well as in the "List of Maxims" at the beginning of the Book), with references to the various heads of Law treated under it.

A large number of the earlier decisions collected by the late Dr. Broom have been retained in the notes. It may be thought that a considerable portion of these decisions might have been expunged as being obsolete. The reason for their retention is a twofold one; first, many of the old cases are elaborate treatises on the law they deal with, and are worthy of careful perusal by the student; secondly, they were collected, not from digests, but, after a laborious search, from the Reports themselves. To strike them out would compel a reference to the earlier editions, in which alone many of

them are to be found, and to which, in process of time, access would necessarily become difficult.

The present Editors desire to express their respectful thanks to the Lord Justice Lindley for the loan of his copy of a former Edition, noted up by himself with recent decisions bearing upon many of the Maxims discussed in the text; most of these cases are inserted in the notes to this Edition. The Editors were further aided by several valuable suggestions of Mr. S. P. Micholls, of 3, King's Bench Walk, Temple, who assisted them in the correction of the proofs; also by certain manuscript notes of the Author, prepared with a view to a fresh edition of the Book.

TEMPLE, October, 1884.

H. F. M.

C. C.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

IN the Legal Science, perhaps more frequently than in any other, reference must be made to first principles. Indeed, a very limited acquaintance with the earlier Reports will show the importance which was attached to the acknowledged Maxims of the Law, in periods when civilization and refinement had made comparatively little progress. In the ruder ages, without doubt, the great majority of questions respecting the rights, remedies, and liabilities of private individuals, were determined by an immediate reference to such Maxims, many of which obtained in the Roman Law, and are so manifestly founded in reason, public convenience, and necessity, as to find a place in the code of every civilized nation. In more modern times, the increase of commerce, and of national and social intercourse, has occasioned a corresponding increase in the sources of litigation, and has introduced many subtleties and nice distinctions, both in legal reasoning and in the application of legal principles, which were formerly unknown. This change, however, so far from diminishing the value of simple