OF

CASES

PRINCIPALLY ON

PRACTICE AND PLEADING,

DETERMINED

IN

The Court of King's Bench,

IN

HILARY, EASTER, TRINITY, AND MICHAELMAS TERMS,

A. D. 1819.

WITH

COPIOUS NOTES

OF

OTHER IMPORTANT DECISIONS.

By JOSEPH CHITTY, Esq.

OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, BARRISTER AT LAW.

VOL. I.

London:

PRINTED FOR HENRY BUTTERWORTH,

LAW-BOOKSELLER,

No. 7, FLEET STREET, BETWEEN THE TEMPLE GATES.

LIBRARY OF THE

LAW DEPARTMENT.

LELAND STANFORD, JR., UNIVERSITY

a. 55221

JUN 29 1201

W. Pople, Printer, 67, Chancery Lane.

PREFACE.

THE repeated errors into which persons, even the most intelligent, daily fall, from ignorance of the due course of proceedings in the superior Courts, sufficiently evince the utility of a work collecting the modern decisions upon the subjects of Practice and Pleading. A very large portion of the time of the Courts is occupied in discussing subjects of this nature, and the success of a suit depends greatly upon the regularity and accuracy of the proceedings; and when the delay, the expence, and even failure of justice, which frequently take place from inattention to these particulars are considered, a favourable reception of this Work is anticipated, because it is intended to assist in conducting the practitioner through the numerous difficulties he may encounter in prosecuting or defending an action or a criminal proceeding.

Constituted as the Court of King's Bench now is, no time could be more appropriate for such an

iv

undertaking. The conspicuous anxiety to improve the administration of Justice, extends in no small degree to the practice of the Court: Reasons are now satisfactorily assigned for decisions upon points which heretofore have been treated as mere practical rules, not to be discussed upon principle; hence the improvement in the modern practice, and the consequent utility of a work collecting and disclosing it to the Profession.

The decided cases are in general reported as faithfully as the Author could state them; and considerable attention has been paid to the notes, which also contain several important decisions, not before in print, and which have been carefully taken and collected by a friend, whose legal knowledge and accuracy render highly valuable any undertaking in which he may have been engaged.

The Work will be continued until a comprehensive collection has been made of those decisions which establish the modern practice of the Court of King's Bench; which it may be justly observed forms the model and example of that practice which in the due administration of Justice ought to be observed by the Courts of this and other countries.

Temple, 23d January, 1820.