PREFACE.

A custom has grown up among authors, especially new authors, of apologizing to the members of the profession, for making still another new book. This portion of the customary preface will be omitted here, because, in the first place there seems no one to whom such an apology is due. Those who have no use for a text book upon the subject of NOTICE, have no right to resent its publication, and those who feel the want of it will require no excuse for an attempt to supply that want. Their criticism will only be directed to the manner of execut ing the work. In the second place, the writer had experienced no inconsiderable annoyance and vexation in his own practice, which might have been avoided had there been any work at all upon the subject, and commenced the collection of materials for the following pages under the belief that such a book was necessary, when there was no prospect of the want being supplied by any one else. Having undertaken the task, influenced by this conviction, apologies for doing so can hardly be in order. For what the book lacks, either in thoroughness, or skillfulness of treatment, or in convenience of arrangement, the author is profoundly regretful, and awaits the criticism and candid suggestions of his readers, with an abiding faith that they will be in the main just and fair. But he would ask them to consider, particularly, with respect to the arrangement of topics, that he was without a model or guide, which contained a single suggestion in this direction. Those upon whom he felt at liberty to call for advice were either too busy to consider the matter with care, or acknowledged their inability to make suggestions which were even satisfactory to themselves. Some of the difficulties in the way of an easy

solution of this problem were made apparent by the oft-repeated interrogatory of those to whom the title of the proposed book was explained-"Notice of What?" In arranging the different chapters and subdivisions, the intention has been to group the topics according to their relations to each other, and to present all the law upon each without unnecessary repetition. That these purposes have been measurably thwarted, will not be a matter of surprise to those who have critically examined many law books. In endeavoring to carry out this plan, it was found necessary to travel over a great deal of ground and accumulate no inconsiderable portion of mat. ter, without regard to the order of arrangement, and when arranged, a great deal of what had been written had to be rewritten to make it conform to the relative positions of the chapters. After all, the writer feels bound to confess that the arrangement finally determined upon, is to some extent arbitrary. Those who examine the work will doubtless find many other features where improvements may be suggested. By enlarging the volume, useful matter might be added, both to the text and to the notes. But laboring under the impression that there was a limit beyond which such a work could not with propriety be extended, many merely cumulative authorities, and those illustrating points of doubtful utility, have been rejected. If the most important, and in fact, all the more important, cases have not been cited, it is for the reason that the author was unable to find them. If any have found their way into the table of cases, which have not been carefully examined and considered in connection with the doctrine laid down in the text which they are cited to illustrate or confirm, the number is very small indeed, and their presence is owing to inadvertence, and not to a design on the part of the writer to impose upon the profession doubtful authority, for the mere purpose of swelling the list and making a show of great industry.

There has been an endeavor in the following pages to present as much of the law bearing upon the subject of NOTICE as could be compressed within what was considered, in the light

of current criticism, a proper space, consistent with a fair and reasonable degree of comment and illustration. A glance at the table of contents will show the different branches of the law into which the doctrine has found its way, and exerted a distinct influence in determining the conflicting rights of parties litigant. No department of jurisprudence where notice has been considered essential, either to bind a party or release him from obligation, has been purposely omitted.

In preparing the book for publication, no model has been followed, for the reason that there was no model to follow, and not because the author desired to make innovations. respect, however, there has been an attempt to avoid what in some law books seems, to a certain extent, a matter of necessity, and in others a most offensive vice-that is the insertion of all the explanatory portion of the matter in the notes. They leave nothing but the dry husks of the subject in the text, making up for the baldness of treatment in the author's original composition, by profuse quotation in the notes, so extended and discursive as to weary the eye and puzzle the understanding of the reader. The peculiar nature of a subject may be such as to render this sort of annotation necessary; but where the writer of this book has varied from the practice of incorporating in the text all that seemed essential, leaving nothing for the notes but the citation of cases, it was because the matter had been overlooked, or was suggested so late as to render its insertion, according to the original plan, impracticable without more labor than the importance of this feature of the work would seem to warrant Every effort has been made to eliminate all errors and mistakes, and to supply all omissions. The book is offered, not in the belief that the task undertaken has been perfectly executed, but in the conviction that it contains nothing but good law, and is so arranged, and provided with facilities for reference, as to be of considerable use to an overworked profession. W. P. W.

St. Louis, May 13, 1878.