can BRIGHTLY'S PURDON'S 9 A DIGEST OF THE STATUTE LAW OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA FROM THE YEAR 1700 TO 1894 ORIGINALLY COMPILED IN 1811 BY JOHN PURDON, Esq. TWELFTH EDITION COMPILED, ANNOTATED, AND REVISED BY FRANK F. BRIGHTLY, Esq. OF THE PHILADELPHIA BAR; AUTHOR OF "BRIGHTLY'S PHILADELPHIA DIGEST," "BRIGHTLY'S VOLUME I. PHILADELPHIA KAY AND BROTHER LAW BOOKSELLERS, PUBLISHERS, AND IMPORTERS 1894 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fortyDAVIS, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fift KAY, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fiftyKAY, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty BROTHER, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sevent & BROTHER, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and eig & BROTHER, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and nine & BROTHER, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C. Ace. Oct. 16, 1894. PREFACE. THE author of this, the twelfth edition of Purdon's Digest, has endeavored to give to his professional brethren a digest of the statute law of Pennsylvania, so arranged and annotated that they can, with the greatest possible dispatch, obtain any act of Assembly sought for, together with the decisions of the courts relating to the same. It is natural that each edition of such a book should contain features which are improvements upon the previous edition, and it has been the aim of the present author to improve the value of this digest over previous editions as a book of ready reference. Many digests of our laws have heretofore been published, both in the chronological and alphabetical arrangements. So early as the 23d of May, 1683, it was proposed in council that the laws of the province should be printed; but after debate the question was negatived. On the 26th of July, 1784, it was left to the governor's discretion to have the laws and charters printed in London. On the 18th of November, 1701, however, a resolution was passed directing the Master of the Rolls to have the laws printed forthwith. Of this edition (if the resolution was carried into effect, which the Master of the Rolls engaged to do), no copy is known to exist, so far as the author can learn upon diligent inquiry. But there were two editions published in chronological form by Andrew Bradford, the colonial printer, in 1714 and 1728; one by Benjamin Franklin in 1742, two by Peter Miller in 1762, one by Hall & Sellers in 1775, one by Thomas McKean in 1781, one by Alexander J. Dallas in 1797-1801, one by Carey & Bioren in 18031808, one by Smith & Reed in 1810-1844, and three by James Dunlop in 1846-1852. The first attempt to make an alphabetical arrangement of the laws of Pennsylvania was the work of Collinson Reed in 1801. This was followed by four editions by John Purdon in 1811-1830. The first edition of Purdon's Digest was originally compiled by John Purdon, and published and copyrighted by Farrand, Hopkins, Zantzinger & Co. in the year 1811, and was followed by the second edition in 1818, the third edition in 1824, and the fourth edition in 1830, all compiled by Mr. Purdon. The fifth, sixth and seventh editions were compiled by the late Hon. George M. Stroud, and appeared in the years 1836, 1840 and 1846 respectively. The eighth edition was issued in 1853, and was compiled by the late Frederick C. Brightly, and published and copyrighted by the late James Kay, the name of Purdon's Digest being retained in this and all subsequent editions. On the publication of this work, Messrs. Kay & Brother, the publishers, received from the Judges of the Supreme Court, who were then Judges Black, Lewis, Gibson, Lowrie and Woodward, the following letter, dated 18th January 1853, over their signa tures: "We have examined the sheets you sent us of Mr. Brightly's proposed edition of Purdon's Digest, and do not hesitate to declare it as our opinion that the whole plan of the book is admirable; and that its execution, so far as we can judge by the specimen, is worthy of the plan. The order in which the statutes are printed, the marginal notes, the footnotes, and the full analysis of each division, as well as the other new features, are all great improvements. Mr. Brightly deserves the thanks of the profession, and we authorize you to tender him ours.' The ninth, tenth and eleventh editions appeared successively in 1861, 1872 and 1883, and were all compiled and annotated by the late Frederick C. Brightly. Upon the appearance of the tenth edition, in 1872, the Judges of the Supreme Court, who were then Judges Read, Agnew, Sharswood, Williams and Mercur, sent the following letter to the publishers, dated February 1873: — "We have carefully examined the tenth edition of Purdon's Digest, by Frederick C. Brightly, Esq., and find it a decided improvement, not only upon the edition so highly praised by our predecessors twenty years ago, but upon the last edition of 1862. It presents the existing laws of Pennsylvania, with very valuable notes and references to the judicial decisions; and we consider it a necessity not only in the library of every lawyer, but of every business man in the state." The author of the present edition has endeavored to make a complete revision of this most popular work, and by the greatest care to insure the most perfect accuracy in his citations, and, at the same time, to produce a book which can be used by both lawyer and layman with the greatest facility. Many new features have been added to the present edition. The Constitutions of the United States and of the state of Pennsylvania have not only been fully annotated to date, but have each been preceded by an exhaustive table of contents not heretofore appearing in any edition of the work. Many new and important titles have been added which have not appeared in previous editions. Hundreds of new cross references will be found throughout the book, while many of the main titles have been entirely re-arranged, and most of them have been much more subdivided, and many new sub-titles added. At the end of the second volume will be found a chronological table of all the statutes in force in the state of Pennsylvania from the year 1700 to the last act approved by the governor-also an alphabetical table of upwards of twelve thousand cases appearing in the annotations - - together with a complete, exhaustive and specific index to the whole work, which has been prepared by the author with the greatest care. The present author has, of course, with the consent of his publishers, used a vast amount of the material which had heretofore been collated by his predecessors; but he hopes that the additions and improvements which he has added to the present edition will meet with the approval of his professional brethren, and greatly assist them in the performance of their professional duties. PHILADELPHIA, October 1st, 1894. F. F. BRIGHTLY. V |