HUMPHRY W. WOOLRYCH, Esq. LONDON: PRINTED BY A. STRAHAN, LAW PRINTER TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY; LAW-BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS, PREFACE. IN offering this Treatise to the profession, the Author is desirous of anticipating an observation which may possibly arise; namely, that the matters contained in it are for the most part to be found severally embodied in other volumes. With regard to this, and not at all adverting to the apparent advantage which may be derived from arranging legal questions belonging to the same subject under one head, he begs to point out the first, fourth, fifth, seventh, and ninth, chapters, and many detached sections of the rest, as entirely unconnected with any existing publication as far as his inquiries have led him; and with reference to the other chapters, while he has ever been anxious to avail himself of the information supplied by other writers, so far from incorporating any part of their labours, unless by occasional and sparing quotation, he has investigated every principle, and |