Excerpt from A Treatise on the Law of Negligence This Treatise may fairly claim to be considered a pioneer in its peculiar field. Its authors are not aware of more than one book that is professedly devoted to the same subject; and that, although a useful compilation of reported decisions, is not, and does not pretend to be, a treatise, and is made up exclusively from the Scotch and English reports. One or two treatises on the Law of Torts devote considerable space to the subject of Negligence; but a very brief examination will satisfy any one that those works have afforded no material aid to the preparation of this. The newness of the field is not mentioned as a merit of the book, so much as an excuse for its defects. A law book can be much better written upon the foundation of several preceding works on the same subject, than when its authors have little or nothing to guide them in their labors. And this, with the fact that the book has been prepared in the brief intervals of an active and engrossing practice, amid constant interruption, and in hours which ought to have been given to rest, is all the apology which will be here made for the many defects of this book: defects of which no one can be half so conscious as the authors themselves. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.