W. BLAKE ODGERS, M.A., LL.D., K.C., DIRECTOR OF LEGAL STUDIES AT THE INNS OF COURT, GRESHAM AND WALTER BLAKE ODGERS, M.A. OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD, THE MIDDLE TEMPLE AND THE IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. SWEET AND MAXWELL, LIMITED, 3, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON, W.C. THIS work has been written to take the place of the late Dr. Herbert Broom's well-known Commentaries on the Common Law. That treatise, though valuable and excellent when first written, has now become antiquated and out-ofdate in its style, in its arrangement and in many of its leading propositions. Very little, therefore, of the original work of Dr. Broom will be found in these volumes, except his judicious selection of extracts from the early Victorian judgments. In the preparation of this work, which has occupied nearly five years, we have adopted a different plan of composition and a different arrangement of the subject-matter. We have stated in large type what we conceive to be the leading principles of the common law of England; the decisions which illustrate these principles follow immediately in smaller type a method which it is hoped the reader will find both clear and convenient. The substantive law has been arranged under three main heads-Crimes, Torts, and Contracts. We have dealt with the criminal law first, because this is the branch of our subject which most affects the nation as a whole and which it is most important for every citizen to learn. Next follows a Book on Adjective Law, in which we trace the history, define the jurisdiction, and describe the present arrangements of our Courts, and then deal with Procedure, both criminal and civil. The law relating to married women, infants, corporations, and other classes of persons who enjoy special privileges or suffer from special disabilities, has been gathered together under the somewhat stilted but convenient title of "The Law of Persons" in the sixth and last Book. The whole work is prefaced by an Introduction, in which the elements of the |