Hon. Horace E. Deemer, of the Supreme Court of Iowa, says:

"Brief making is an art in which there are few masters. I have been amazed at the helplessness of law students, and even of lawyers when they go into a library to search for authorities. A good lawyer is one who knows where to look for the law; and after he has found it knows what to do with it. Law schools should teach their students how to do these things."

Hon. John H. Stiness, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, says:

"One who does not know where and how to find the law will not know the law. One who cannot state his points in a clear and orderly way will fail to make an impression and to give the aid he desires. Brief making, therefore, is a most essential and practical accomplishment for a lawyer. Special instruction in brief making is both desirable and important."

The need of a text-book serving as a guide to students and young lawyers in the investigation of authorities, showing the proper way of using the decisions and statutes, explaining the purpose, relative value, and utility of the different classes of law books, the best way to search out what may be wanted from the bewildering mass of legal publications, and how to use the matter at hand properly and effectively in preparing brief or argument, has been apparent for years.

By the co-operation of a number of the best writers that could be secured, each experienced in his particular branch of the work, it became possible to publish a book of this kind that would be of practical use for law students and law school instruction.

Edited by

NATHAN ABBOTT,

Dean of the Leland Stanford University School of Law.

Introduction.

By WILLIAM M. LILE,

Dean of the University of Virginia School of Law.

Part I. The Brief on Appeal.

By HENRY S. REDFIELD,

Professor Columbia University School of Law.

Part II. The Use of Decisions and Statutes.
By EUGENE WAMBAUGH,

Professor Harvard University School of Law.

Part III. American Law Publications.
By ALFRED F. MASON,

Editor American Law School Review.

Part IV. How to Find the Law.

By JAMES E. WHEELER,
Professor Yale University School of Law.

Appendix.

Table of Law Abbreviations.

A book every law student should read before
admission to the bar.

The Hornbook Series.

The Hornbooks form a series of separate elementary textbooks on the principal divisions of the law, and are designed for the use of both the law student and the practitioner. Every volume is a complete treatise in itself, and all are built upon the same general plan, in which certain special and original features are made prominent.

These distinguishing features are:

(1) The black-letter text, in numbered paragraphs, which in itself constitutes a complete synopsis of the law of the subject. This text is distinguished typographically from the subsidiary text by being printed in large type. It runs through the book, forming an outline or framework of the subject which is of particular value to the law student for the purposes of review.

(2) The subsidiary text or commentary, which consists of a more extended presentation and discussion of the principles in the preceding black-letter text. This commentary follows every black-letter paragraph or group of paragraphs, is printed in ordinary type, and comprises the body of the book. The typographical separation of these two parts enables the student to obtain, in the first place, a general, comprehensive grasp of the subject as a whole, and of the relation of one part to another, and, by re-reading in connection with the more extended commentary, to fix the details clearly in mind.

(3) The notes and authorities, which consist of additional explanations and illustrations of the text, referring the student to all the leading and late cases where the principles have been discussed and applied.

(4) Uniformity in plan, form, and price.

As to the Price.

It was a good deal of an experiment to fix the price of these text-books at $3.75, including delivery charges. They were to be regular octavo text-books, and the experience of publishers has been that the uncertainties of the market with a new book could be safely met only by making the price $5 or $6. Of course, if a large circulation were assured in advance, the publishers would be warranted in coming nearer to the mark which lawyers would like to fix. Just there was the problem. We determined to meet it by taking the circulation for granted, fixing the low price, and then making the books so irresistible that the circulation would have to come.

Authors and Editors.

The authors have been very carefully selected, with a view to their special fitness for handling the particular subject intrusted to them. No one of them has been chosen simply because of a name. Some of them have already established reputations as writers, some have won their literary reputations with these books, but in all cases their work has undergone the most critical examination in our editorial corps, their citations being verified, and, when necessary, their work revised, to make it conform to the severe standard of this Series. after publication, criticism shows any weak places, a new edition is promptly brought out. All this lessens the chances which a purchaser takes in buying an isolated book. Here the publishers' responsibility has not been confined to the paper and press work.

On Approval.

If,

We sell our text-books, including the Hornbook Series, subject to examination for 30 days. We want our customers to be satisfied. We believe they like to judge from the book itself, rather than from the most honest circular. We know our

books bear testing. We are well satisfied with the results of this plan of selling; and so, apparently, are our customers.

EXECUTORS AND ADMINISTRATORS..........By Simon G. Croswell

FEDERAL JURISDICTION AND PROCEDURE...........

PERSONS AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS...................

PUBLIC CORPORATIONS........

REAL PROPERTY.....

WEST PUBLISHING Co., St. Paul, Minn.