AND ON PLEADING, WITH SECOND AND THIRD VOLUMES, CONTAINING PRECEDENTS OF PLEADINGS, AND COPIOUS DIRECTORY NOTES. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. BY JOSEPH CHITTY, Esq. AND THOMAS CHITTY, Esq. OF THE INNER TEMPLE. Seventh American Edition, FROM THE SIXTH LONDON EDITION, CORRECTED AND ENLARGED. CONTAINING ALL THE RECENT IMPROVEMENTS, AND AN APPENDIX WITH NOTES AND ADDITIONS, BY JOHN A. DUNLAP, Esq. AND ADDITIONAL NOTES, AND REFERENCES TO LATER DECISIONS, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. PUBLISHED BY G. AND C. MERRIAM. 1837. Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1837, by G. & C. MERRIAM, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. THE AMERICAN EDITOR'S PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH AMERICAN EDITION. Ar the time when the call of the profession induced the Publishers of the present and former editions of Mr. Chitty's work on Pleading, to make arrangements to put it again to press, the first volume of the Sixth London edition had been received from England. The second volume has since been received, but the third is yet unpublished. An attentive examination induced the editor to prepare the first volume only of that edition, containing the principles and rules upon which Pleadings should be framed, for republication. The second and third volumes of the Sixth American Edition, with additional notes, have been reprinted, and contain the Precedents of the Seventh American Edition. He was induced to adopt this course, because, in addition to the great delay which waiting for the completion of the work in England would have caused, sufficient reason appears to him to exist for not presenting to the Profession in the United States a set of Precedents, which, in the numerous jurisdictions of the Union, would not be considered as having the stamp of authority. The Precedents under the New Rules are very concise and convenient; but it would be presumption in the Editor, upon his own view of their superior utility, to offer them instead of those which, from long adoption and use, have the weight of judicial de An Appendix of Forms in Assumpsit, adapted to the New Rules, from the second volume of the new London edition, is inserted at the end of the third volume of this edition. If when the third English volume is received the wishes of the Profession in this country shall seem to require it, the publishers will issue a supplement of forms prescribed by the New Rules, and some others which have been prepared by eminent pleaders, who have deemed a more succinct mode of declaring in all cases to be authorized by the spirit of one of those Rules.* The adoption generally of those forms in practice in this country will be the sanction of the Publishers for their insertion in a future edition. PHILADELPHIA, April 17th, 1837. *Reg. Gen. Trin. T. 1 W. 4. PREFACE TO THIS SIXTH [ENGLISH] EDITION. THE subjects of this work are, 1st, who are to be the Parties to an action; 2dly, the proper Forms of Action, and which must now be accurately stated, even in the writ; and 3dly, the Pleadings therein. And as a mistake in either of these would in general be fatal to the action or the defence, it is obvious that a very accurate knowledge of these subjects is essential not only to the professed Special Pleader and Barrister, but also to every Attorney, who is responsible to his client for the sufficiency of the proceedings, and who, if generally informed on the subjects of this volume, and duly attentive, would frequently discover errors which have been overlooked by the Pleader, or Barrister, and by a timely suggestion might prevent a disastrous defeat, which would be as injurious to his own as his client's interest, and discreditable to the administration of justice. Since the recent enactments and rules, these subjects have greatly risen in practical importance, and a new edition of the work has become essential. The Editors have spared no exertions to render the work more worthy of the flattering reception the prior editions have received. The principal modern alterations in Pleadings have been the prohibition of more than one count upon each cause of action, and the exercise of more care in preparing that single count than heretofore, and the abolition or rendering less frequent the use of a plea of general issue, and requiring almost every ground of defence to be pleaded specially. The great increase in the number of pleas has rendered it necessary to prepare an entirely new Third Volume of Pleas and Replications, and subsequent Pleadings, most of which have occurred in actual prac |