Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1846, by in the clerk's office of the District Court for the District of Vermont. 368622 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE value of the work of the late Judge REEVE on the legal character of the Domestic Relations is so generally recognized, that no apology will be demanded by the profession for its republication. Although it is now thirty years since its first appearance, it has not been superseded by any later treatise, and it still continues to be the standard work on the subjects of which it treats. Without claiming for it what can be ascribed to no elementary essay, the character of an authority, which can properly belong only to adjudged cases, we may nevertheless safely affirm, that it is the best existing exposition of those titles of the law, which it professes to discuss; and though subsequent legislation has, in many of the American states, changed the reciprocal rights and duties of the parties, yet it will be found that the author has in general correctly stated the principles upon which the common law has regulated those rights and duties, and to which American legislation concerning them has always had reference. The editor of the present edition, therefore, hopes that he is doing something towards the discharge of that debt, which, according to high authority, "every man oweth unto his profession," in presenting to his brethren a republication of Judge REEVE's original work, accompanied with as full notes and references as the time and means of investigation at his command would admit. He has not ventured upon much discussion in those few cases where his own impressions, or the solemn decisions of legal tribunals, are adverse to the doctrines of the text, but has preferred rather to cite conflicting resolutions, and to refer to the books for the reasons which the sages of the law have given for judgments at variance with the conclusions of his author. The editor believes that most late American statutory enactments, as well as most adjudged cases, bearing upon the subjects treated of by Judge REEVE, are referred to in his notes, and trusts that the work, in its present shape, will be found at least a tol erable digest of the American law of the domestic relations. It has been deemed advisable to reprint the treatise on the Powers of Chancery, and the essays on the legal import of the terms Heirs, &c., but there was not the same necessity for editorial labor in regard to them, and they are, therefore, given without annotation. In the multitude of bulky tomes, with which the legal press now teems, brevity is a merit, which may almost atone for the temerity of publishing at all, and this consideration has induced the editor to confine his prefatory and supplementary matter within the smallest limits consistent with general utility; and before he dismisses the work, he has only to acknowledge his indebtedness to the valuable labors of the Hon. JOHN BOUVIER, in his learned and excellent edition of Bacon's Abridgement, as well as to the various reporters of the American courts, whose cases are so often cited in the following pages. Burlington, Vt., October, 1846. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. THE object of the Author of the following Chapters is, to bring into. one connected view, the law on the various subjects respecting which they treat; which is found in the books, scattered through a great variety of Reports and Elementary Treatises. He has had a particular view to the principles which govern each subject, and has endeavored to draw them from the various decisions which have been made, both at law and in equity. When the governing principle is discovered in any class of cases, it will assist in determining all analogous cases; and it will not be so difficult to decide correctly, when we meet with litigated questions. He has, therefore, in every questio vexata, viewed the governing principle as the pole-star. By this means, a desirable uniformity in the law will be observed; and its symmetry will be preserved from being marred. He has not published this volume with the expectation of rendering any essential service to the Jurist. His utmost expectations will be answered, if it should be found beneficial to the learner. If the manner should partake too much of the character of instructing, he hopes for the candor of the reader, when it is known, that the work contains that which for many years has been delivered as lectures to pupils. His object has been, to exhibit the Common Law of England, and such of their Statutes as we have adopted in words or principle. He has, therefore, but seldom mentioned the law of the State in which he lives, where it differs from the Common Law; unless that difference arises from causes equally operative in all parts of the Union; or where an explanation of it has, in his opinion, served the purpose of shedding light upon the Common Law. His design has been, to render the book, if of any value, equally valuable to all parts of our country. |