THE CONTRACT OF PAWN, AS IT EXISTS AT COMMON LAW, AND AS MODIFIED BY THE PAWNBROKERS' ACTS, THE FACTORS' ACTS, STEVENS AND SONS, 119, CHANCERY LANE, JACKSON AND KEESON, EAGLE COURT, DEAN STREET, HIGH HOLBORN 1883. PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. THE first edition of this work was published in 1866, and has for some time been out of print. In the intervening period, the Factors' Act, 1877, and the Bankruptcy Acts of 1869 and 1883, have effected changes of great commercial importance, while several statutes by which the business of Pawnbroking was previously regulated, have been repealed and superseded by the Pawnbrokers' Act, 1872. Meanwhile, an unusually large number of cases, bearing upon the Contract of Pawn, have formed the subject of judicial decisions, in which well-established principles have been applied under novel and complex conditions. In the present edition, the work, as originally issued, has been considerably enlarged, and almost entirely re-written; the cases cited have been increased by several hundreds, and in citation, references have been given to the various series of contemporary reports. The author regrets that the passage of the book through the press, has been retarded by unforeseen causes, and that in consequence, the addenda have become so numerous as to render it advisable to arrange them under headings corresponding to those of the chapters to which they relate. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. A CONSIDERABLE time has now elapsed since the publication of any work specially treating of the Contract of Pawn. During the interval several statutes have been passed, and many decisions pronounced, more or less directly bearing upon the subject. These circumstances having been represented to the author as sufficient to justify an attempt to fill a vacant place in the Lawyer's Library, he was induced to undertake the task. In many parts of the work, considerable use has been made of the admirable treatises of Sir William Jones and Mr. Justice Story, on the Law of Bailments, wherein the principles of that law are laid down in terms upon whose clearness and conciseness it would be hopeless to attempt to improve, and which have, in consequence, taken rank among the recognized and authoritative definitions of legal doctrine. When thus availing himself of the labours of others, the author has almost invariably adopted the language in which other and abler writers than himself have expressed their thoughts, and he has never intentionally omitted to acknowledge the source to which he was indebted, or to verify references to authorities cited in support of the propositions quoted. His endeavour has been to produce a book which may be useful to the members of both branches of his own profession, and which may also so deal with every-day questions on this important branch of the law of contracts, that both pawnors and pawnees may be able to consult it with advantage. |
