THIRD AMERICAN, FROM THE SEVENTH LONDON EDITION RV JAMES APPLETON MORGAN THE NEW YORK BAR. AUTHOR OF "THE LAW OF LITERATURE;" AMERICAN EDITOR VOL. I JERSEY CITY, N. J. FREDERICK D. LINN & CO., . LAW PUBLISHERS, Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1875, By JAMES APPLETON MORGAN, In the office of the Librarian or Congress, at Washington. AMERICAN EDITOR'S PREFACE. THE merits of Mr. Addison's elaborate treatise upon the Common Law of Contract, are too widely recognized to require recapitulation, and no apology can be necessary, at this time, in offering an American Edition of his pages to the profession in the United States. While the reference to American cases accompanying the text of the present edition, will, it is hoped, enhance its practical value to the American student and practitioner, allusion need not be made to the absolute impossibility of bringing together, in one work, every reported case upon so vast a subject as the Law of Contract. It is believed, however, that an attempt to approach very nearly to such a desideratum will not fail to be appreciated, and attention is called to the fact, that between seven and eight thousand English cases, from the Year Books down, are treated or cited in Mr. Addison's text alone, while the notes to the first volume of the present edition alone adds reference to more than two thousand American decisions. If, therefore, upon the completion of the work (in three volumes) the American cases, as it is confidently expected, are fairly proportionate to the English, it would render the work, in comprehensiveness at least, the most exhaustive text-book upon the subject in the two great commonlaw nations of the world. |