WORKS OF JOHN C. WAIT PUBLISHED BY JOHN WILEY & SONS. Engineering and Architectural Jurisprudence. A Presentation of the Law of Construction for Engineers, Architects, Contractors, Builders, Public Officers, and Attorneys at Law. 8vo, 985 pages, cloth, $6.00; sheep, $6.50. The Law of Operations Preliminary to Construction in Engineering and Architecture. Rights in Real Property. Boundaries, Easements, and Franchises. For Engineers, Architects, Contractors, Builders, Public Officers, and Attorneys at Law. 8vo, 712 pages, cloth, $5.00; sheep, $5.50. The Law of Contracts. A Text-book for Technical Schools of Engineering and Architecture. 8vo, 346 pages, cloth, $3.00. JURISPRUDENCE. A PRESENTATION OF THE LAW OF CONSTRUCTION FOR ENGINEERS, ARCHITECTS, CONTRACTORS BUILDERS, .. BY JOHN CASSAN WAIT, M.C.E., LL.B., (M.C.E. CORNELL; LL.B. HARVARD,) Attorney and Counselor at Law and Consulting Engineer; "All laws as well as all contracts may be controlled in their operation and effect by gen- FIRST EDITION. SECOND THOUSAND. NEW YORK: JOHN WILEY & SONS. LONDON CHAPMAN & HALL, LIMITED. In the autumn of 1887 the author found himself an Instructor in Engineering at Harvard University, with some leisure time and with every opportunity open to him for special study in any subject. His experience had been that of many other engineers. He had had a good preliminary training in Engineering at Cornell University, and had devoted several years to active practice. He had prepared specifications and contracts for engineering works by copying those that had done service for other jobs, had found them misfits, and had been through more or less litigation in consequence, and had felt, as have thousands of other engineers and contractors, the need of some advice and understanding as to the legal rights and liabilities of the contractor and owner, and as to his own duties and responsibilities. He had consulted older members of his profession in regard to these matters, who thought they were questions of law; and from lawyers he had received the reply that they were not familiar enough with the duties of an engineer or architect and with the customs and usages of the building trades to venture an opinion. Lawyers invariably answered that they should have to inquire more especially into the nature of an engineer's duties and his relations to the work, and to his employer and to the contractor, before they could answer, and that it seemed to them a matter for a specialist. Specialists the author did not find, and he determined to become one himself, well knowing the meaning of the term in its modern acceptation, and fully real.izing the labor it involved. He knew that to become a specialist required. one first to acquire a general knowledge of the subject, to accomplish which he entered the Harvard Law School and completed a three years' course in the study of law, enjoying special privileges in the libraries of the School and University by reason of his position. During and subsequent to this period the author delivered each year a brief course of lectures upon the subject of Engineering Law to the technical students in engineering, the attendance of which fully satisfied him of the interest that the subject had for students in engineering, and gave him some impressions of its value to the profession. The outgrowth of those lectures is this book The subject of Architectural Jurisprudence is not a new one, as is generally supposed. A book was published on the subject as early as 1827 in England,* and the French law of Engineering and Architecture has been thoroughly digested in several volumes published in 1879. Since then the growth and development of the industrial professions has made the need of such works more imperative, and it is a matter of surprise that the subject has not long since received the attention which it merits. This is doubtless due to the fact that to undertake such a task required a preparation and experience not often acquired by a single person. The need of a book on the subject of Engineering and Architectural Jurisprudence is more apparent since the engineer's and architect's field of practice has been extended. Their duties are no longer confined to designing and supervising the construction of works, but they have become counselors and advisers in the investigation and promotion of enterprises, and in the examination of experts and the rebuttal of their testimony. European engineers have long since enjoyed this practice, while the general employment of American engineers in such a capacity in this country is comparatively recent. In preparing this book the author has hoped to enlarge this practice, and to create a better understanding between attorneys and engineers or architects. If the engineer understand, fairly well, the rights and liabilities of his employer and the contractor, and his own duties and obligations; if he appreciate the dangers and legal liability of his employer incident to construction work, and be fairly informed as to what is required in the conduct of a trial,-his services will without doubt be more valuable and more in demand. Attorneys at law are not often familiar with the difficulties and dangers. attending construction work, nor the methods employed. Even the terms employed are not often acquired by members of the legal profession, to say nothing of the technical knowledge required to skillfully conduct the examination of experts in science and mechanics. To undertake such cases as arise in manufacture and construction, a lawyer must make a special study of the subject-matter of the case in hand, as best he may in the short time he has and under the pressure of other professional duties. He attempts in a few days or months to acquire what the engineer has devoted the best years of his life to accomplish, and with what success he knows as well as anybody. Lawyers are astute, and the showing that they frequently make in court before the jury is truly wonderful; but their technical knowledge is generally superficial, and the results are often what might be expected. They justify their course, however, on the ground that engineers are ignorant *Elmes' Architectural Jurisprudence, 1827. Nouvelle Jurisprudence et Traité Pratique sur la Responsabilité des Architectes, Ingénieurs. Experts, Arbitres et Entrepreneurs; Honoraires des Architectes; Devis Dé passés et Traveaux Supplémentaires, etc., par O. Masselin. |