PREFACE TO VOL. III. ·

AN apology is due to the public for the delay in publishing the second and third volumes of this work, a delay which has however been caused in a great degree by the amplitude of the notes.

The editor has added to this volume a number of cases selected from the MSS. of the late Hon. Jacob Radcliff, many of which have never been published before.

When the annotation of this work was undertaken, it was designed to present at length those cases which were not already public, but it has been impossible to achieve this purpose. The eminent judges who sat in the Supreme Court during the period of these reports, have passed from their earthly labors, and their unpublished opinions are inaccessible to the editor, even if they are still in existence.

No apology is required for presenting the notes of Judge Radcliff. It is true they were prepared for private and not for public use-that they vary occasionally from reported cases that they are sometimes deficient in fullness. Yet notwithstanding these objections, they will be considered eminently serviceable for a variety of purposes, not the least of which, is a clear statement of the principle settled or affirmed in each case, by an eminent judge and most accomplished lawyer who participated in the decision.