Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by

JOHN G. WELLS,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by the

MASONIC PUBLISHING AND Manufacturing Co.,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

INTRODUCTORY.

THIS work, prepared some years ago, was receivel with great avor by the public, attaining a larger sale, it is believed, than any work of the kind ever published. Lapse of time has brought mateia changes in the statutes of many of the States; the war has aot only altered the social condition of some of them, but has introduced the Internal Revenue system, National Banks, modifications of the Tariff, amendments to the Constitution of the United States, emancipation of the slaves, and the General Bankrupt Law.

The subject of Pensions, Bounties and War Claims, has also assumed a new and greatly increased importance.

These numerous changes have led the publishers to make a new and thoroughly revised edition, reproducing the whole work; and they have, without regard to expense, procured the services of the men most competent to bring every department of it up to the present requirements of the laws, statutes and provisions. So critical and thorough has been this revision, that it is the conviction of the publishers that the most implicit reliance can be placed upon the work, as authority on all the subjects of which it treats.

The utility of such a work no one will now question. The sale of hundreds of thousands of copies of the former editions, and the constant demand for it, have settled that point. The professional man, the farmer, the mechanic, the manufacturer, the soldier, the sailor, each requires a convenient, comprehensive and reliable work which will enable him to draw up any instrument in writing that may be required, in a legal form; which will furnish such legal information as is usually called for in the various avocations of life; a book that everybody can understand, and that will enable every man or woman to be his or her own lawyer. To make such a work, and make it well, was no small task; but by patient, continued, and intelligent labor, it has been achieved.

BANKRUPTS AND CREDITORS

will find in this work, in addition to information indispensable to every business man, the General Bankrupt Law, with Forms, explanations, and full instructions for taking the benefit of the Act, without legal assistance.

THE CITY WHOLESALE MERCHANT,

whose customers are scattered throughout the country, will find this manual indispensable for his information concerning the laws of the various States, in regard to the Collection of Debts, the Iimit ation of Actions, Homestead, and other laws exempting properts from attachment, Stay Laws, the Laws of Frauds, Rates of Interest, Peddlers' Licenses to Sell Goods, Merchants, Brokers, Auction, and Commercial Traveler's License, Stamp Duties, Post Office and Cus tom House Regulations, etc.

THE CITY RETAILER,

whose customers are at home, cannot safely give them credit with. out being familiar with the legal details concerning false pretences of buyers. He will also find the following topics indispensable in his business: Copartnership Agreements and Dissolutions, Assignments of Goods to Creditors and others, Policies of Insurance, Powers and Instructions for all the successive Legal steps in cases of Bankruptcy Promissory Notes, Due Bills, Receipts, Money Orders, Postal Regu lations, Goods requiring a Stamp, etc., etc.

THE COUNTRY MERCHANT

will find most of the foregoing valuable in his business, but in addition, he will find use for Forms of Bills of Sale, Letters of Credit, Contracts, Notes, Orders, Business Bills and Orders, Agree ments for the Sale of all kinds of Personal Property, Bonds, Chatte and other Mortgages, Orders and Due Bills for Goods, factorizing writs, and many other matters.

THE CITY OR COUNTRY ATTORNEY

will here find, ready at his hand, in reliable form, legal instrumenta of every description, including those for Deeds, Bonds, Mortgages Indentures, Powers of Attorney, Articles of Copartnership, Letter of License, Credit Agreements, Satisfactions, Judgments, Leases, Wills and Codicils, Compositions with Creditors, Forms for Pension. Bounty, Back Pay, and Indemnity Claims, Internal Revenue Deos sions, together with a great mass of carefully collected information, which will enable him to state the law-points on nearly all cases which may be brought before him.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE AND NOTARIES PUBLIC,

will find this work of great value to them. In all cases of civi suits which come before a justice's court, and in all the provisions for Protests, Affidavits, Acknowledgment of Deeds, Wills, Agreements, Contracts, Leases, etc., etc., the work is absolutely perfect.

THE FARMER,

also, will find use for Deeds of all kinds, Mortgages, Satisfaction of Mortgages, Bills of Sale for all kinds of property, the Laws in reference to Lost, Strayed or Stolen Cattle, Fences, Roads, Cultivation of Lands, Homestead Laws, and Exemptions; the Laws, Forms and steps to be taken for recovering or obtaining Public Lands, the mode of making out his returns of Income, and the taxes to be paid on the produce of his farm, etc., etc.

THE MECHANIC.

In addition to much other valuable matter, the Lien Laws of the various States and Territories, the Statute of Limitation to Actions, the Liabilities of Contractors, Journeymen and Apprentices, the Laws of the different States and Territories in regard to the Claims of Workmen for Labor, and instructions for proceedings in collect ing the same.

FOR LANDLORDS AND TENANTS,

We have provided Forms of Leases and Agreements, and all the necessary instructions and forms for installing and rejecting tenants.

THE DISCHARGED SOLDIER OR SAILOR

and his family, will find here all the instructions and forms necessary to enable them to procure Back Pay, Pensions, Bounties, and War Claims against the Government. This matter has been prepared with extraordinary care, and is pronounced, by those most competent to judge, absolutely perfect. By the aid of this book, any invalid soldier or widow, or children or other heirs of a deceased soldier, who can read and write, can make out their pen. sion, back pay, or bounty papers, without being under the neces sity of expending a dollar of their pittance on claim agents, who usually take the largest share for themselves. The instructions are so plain as to make the whole matter perfectly clear and simple.

EMIGRANTS

have here the U. S. Homestead Acts, with instructions for obtaining the Government lands at a merely nominal price; the Homestead Exemption Laws of the different States, provisions for naturaliza tion, and all other matters pertaining to citizenship: a statement of the qualifications for a voter in each State, laws respecting the purchase, mortgage, sale and recording of property; Horse, Sheep, Dog, and general Cattle Laws; taking land on shares, etc., etc.

FOR MARRIED MEN AND WOMEN.

There are full instructions for reserving property in view of marriage; the rights of married women in regard to property and to conducting business on their own separate account; laws concerning inheritance, devising of property, wills, joint signature of deeds, mortgages, etc.; complete instructions and forms for proceedings in cases of divorce, and regulations concerning alimony, and the care of children in cases of separation.

EXECUTORS, ADMINISTRATORS, GUARDIANS AND MINORS, are also fully provided for, the laws appertaining to their rights and duties being fully and accurately stated.

THE POLITICIAN AND STATESMAN

will find here the whole action of the Government in relation to Reconstruction and the legislation concerning the Freedmen, the Constitution of the United States with all its amendments, the seals of each State, with many other matters of equal importance.

In short, there is no class of the community, male or female, who have, or expect to have, any property, or who have any rights or privileges which require protection, who will not be greatly benefited and advantaged by the possession of this book. It will save them money, save them trouble, save them time, save them litigation and lawyers' fees, and give them information that nobody can afford to be without.

NEW YORK, 1869.