iv PREFACE.

the heavy current of business continually pressing through the
court.

On reflecting upon the nature of the undertaking I deemed
it proper to begin with the earliest of my own decisions, taking
them up in chronological order according to the elate of the
last, material adjudication in each case, and to make such a
selection from them as would give to the profession the great-
est amount and variety of information within the smallest
compass. I have rarely or never preserved my notes of the
arguments of counsel after my decision has been pronounced;
and therefore it has been entirely out of my power to give
even the usual skeleton of the arguments of solicitors; many
of which have been distinguished by great ability; and from
most of which I have derived much instruction. To mate
up in some degree for this defect, I have taken pains so to
digest the pleadings, and to state the circumstances as to pre-
sent a full view of all the points which had been, or could
have been made in the case; and to render the decisions as
useful as possible I have revised the reasons for them all,
and have so recast and enlarged some as to comprehend all
the points which apparently might have been made. In each
case I have given references to all the authorities deemed
pertinent and within my reach; and have also inserted, from
the records, by way of notes, short reports of a number of
cases decided by my predecessors.

Although The Chancellor's Case cannot in any way be con-
sidered as a controversy which had been adjudicated upon by
the Court of Chancery, it is nevertheless a determination of
the General Assembly in relation to the sole judge of that
tribunal which involved the examination and discussion of sub-
jects of the most interesting nature; and is a decision of the
legislative department upon a question of constitutional law of
the most vital importance to the Chancellor in particular, and
to the judicial department in general. It therefore appeared