# Sept. 9, 1889. March Bequest Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PREFACE. THE first glance at the pages of this volume will show that it is not a professional treatise, nor an "Every man his own lawyer." The lawyer who may obtain it will find it quite as appropriate to the household as to the office. The merchant will be more likely to enjoy it on a journey than to consult it on business questions in the counting-room. Its purpose is different from those of either the professional or popular law-books heretofore published. That purpose is to depict, for the intelligent general reader, the law of the land upon topics of general public interest. Every reader of the journals and magazines is daily confronted with allusions to the statutes and the decisions of the courts. There are many branches of the law the rapid growth and important changes in which have kept them prominent in public attention; and there are many others which affect so many persons that any one may well be interested in brief systematic explanations. This volume is devoted to these topics; and it aims only at giving a correct and readable account of the leading aspects and general principles of modern jurisprudence. Thus, it gives an outline of our government and our courts and their law-books. It then explains what the courts have decided upon leading subjects within the United States' jurisdiction, such as citizenship and civil rights, the Indians and the Chinese, banking and commerce, and other matters of current interest in this field. Prominent subjects more particularly within State jurisdiction follow. The conflict of the marriage laws, the great change as to the rights of married women, the startling difficulties respecting divorce, are discussed. The progress which the States have made in codification is delineated, with sketches of the new practice; of the marriage of law and equity; the death and burial of John Doe; and antique curiosi ties of special pleading. The State laws, most of them new, and all of them of general interest, relative to suing the liquor-seller, cruelty to animals, lotteries, and Sunday observance, are reviewed, with numerous anecdotes of their practical operation. Rules which bear upon every-day life and have entertaining aspects are then explained, giving the law of driving and walking, finding and stealing, tumble-downs, gas-explosions, homesteads and "French flats," strange uses of photographs, and common but reprehensible uses of firearms and fireworks. Doctors, druggists, and school-teachers may find some anecdotes bearing upon their vocations; and lawyers will concur in the counsel given against drawing one's own will. Travel and transportation receive attention; dealings with expresses and telegraphs are explained, with a full sketch of the law of a railroad trip. The There is no attempt to marshal numerous authorities; salient, representative decisions are given when they promise to illustrate the principle under discussion, but not otherwise. author has endeavored to give a trustworthy general statement of the law. Yet the reader is requested to remember that there are thirty-eight States, whose laws on any given subject may, and often do, differ. No effort is here made to pursue these differences in detail. Readers of good memories will sometimes meet a paragraph which seems familiar. The explanation is that before 1876 the general editor of Harper's First Century of the Republic invited the author to contribute to that work a brief description of the growth of jurisprudence throughout the century. He did so; and the paper, as published, gave rise to calls for others in the same vein, resulting in the preparation of numerous popular articles upon law topics, which appeared in the New-York Times and Tribune, The Christian Union and Congregationalist, and other periodicals. Portions of such papers, rewritten and enlarged, have been used as materials in several of these chapters. With respect to some excellent subjects which are omitted, the author can only say that he wishes the book were larger, and he hopes the reader will concur in that wish. BENJAMIN VAUGHAN ABBott. |