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A

TREATISE

ON

THE PRACTICE

OF THE

COURT OF CHANCERY,

WITH AN

Appendix of Precedents.

BY OLIVER L. BARBOUR,

COUNSELLOR AT LAW.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

ALBANY :

Wx. & A. GOULD & Co., 104 STATE-STREET.

NEW YORK:

GOULD, BANKS & Co. 144 NASSAU STREET.

Power Press of G. M. Davison & Co., Saratoga Springs.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and forty-three, by W. & A. GOULD

& Co., in the clerk's office of the northern district of the state of New York.

PREFACE.

-:0:

A FEW words in explanation of the nature and scope of the present treatise, and its arrangement, may perhaps be expected.

Its object is to give, in concise terms, a comprehensive view of the present practice of the Court of Chancery, strictly so styled, and as contradistinguished from pleading, and the topics collaterally connected therewith. Doubtless the subjects of jurisdiction, pleading, parties, and evidence are of great importance, and very necessary to be understood by the practitioner. But it does not follow that they are entitled to a place here. It has become too common a custom with modern writers to jumble discordant materials together. As a division of labor tends to the perfection of each part of the thing produced, so does a division of subjects promote clearness and accuracy in the method of treating them. In addition to this consideration it may be mentioned, that jurisdiction, pleading, parties and evidence have been separately treated of, in a most thorough and able manner, by several distinguished writers, both American and English, whose works are in the hands of the profession. Having determined to limit the range of the present treatise, in the manner above mentioned, the next step was to fix upon a

method of arrangement for carrying out the general plan, in a clear and convenient manner. Nor was this so easy a matter as may be supposed. Of all the treatises written upon the practice of the court of chancery, no two are alike, or even similar, in the general plan or the arrangement. Considering it a matter of great importance, however, at the outset, to adopt a proper method of arrangement, as well for my own convenience as for that of those who should use my work, I devoted considerable time to the subject; carefully collating the several treatises on the practice of the court which had previously been published. The result was the adoption of the present plan; which seems to me the most natural and simple division of the subject treated of.

The work consists of two volumes, and is divided into six Books, for the purpose of marking the several stages of a suit, or indicating the nature of the proceedings treated of. These Books are divided into Chapters, which are subdivided into Sections.

The FIRST BOOK describes the method of instituting and defending a suit in the court of chancery, and the mode of conducting it, from its commencement to, and including the decree.

The SECOND BOOK details the proceedings subsequent to the decree. The various Chapters of this Book describe the practice upon appeals; the method of executing decrees; and the proceedings under decrees and orders-embracing issues at law, feigned issues, actions at law, and proceedings in the Master's office.

The THIRD BOOK is a sort of omnium gatherum, embracing various matters which could not well be introduced into either of the preceding Books without interrupting the regular chain of proceedings. The several Chapters of this Book describe the points of practice arising upon the various interlocutory applications and other incidental proceedings, which from

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