INTRODUCTION:

THEORY OF THE LAW OF FRAUD.

THIS book is a treatise upon the theory and administration of a considerable body of law which may be described as stretching from Negligence on the one side across to Crime on the other, to wit, the Law of Fraud on its Civil Side; and this Introduction is intended to set out in brief the theory of the subject as worked out in detail in the body of the text.

The book opens with an attempt to establish an adequate and a useful definition of the term 'fraud' itself, against warnings founded, as the author thinks, in unnecessary fears. The definition given is the keynote to the construction of the book, and to much of the particular examination of the law within it, and by such as may wish to make the most of the work should be carefully observed; though, to allay any apprehensions that may arise in the minds of those who will have, if such a thing can be thought, no definition of fraud, it should be said that the work is written throughout upon the lines of authority, and not upon preconceived views of the author. Whoever will, may therefore dispense with the definition for any purpose other than that of a guide to the contents of the book.