EMORY WASHBURN, LL.D.,

BUSSEY PROFESSOR OF LAW IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY, AUTHOR OF

A TREATISE ON THE AMERICAN LAW OF REAL PROPERTY.

THIRD EDITION.

BOSTON:

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1873, by

EMORY WASHBURN,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

CAMBRIDGE:

PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON.

TO THE

HON. HORACE BINNEY, LL.D.

IN dedicating this work to you, without first asking permission, I may have presumed too far upon the acquaintance which I share with the profession and your fellow-citizens generally, through your distinguished learning as a jurist, your practical wisdom as a statesman, and the fruits of a long life of usefulness and honor.

In this hour of peril to all we hold dear, it is grateful to recall that a few remain who, like you, stood by the nation's cradle at its birth, and have watched over its wonderful growth as it rose and expanded under the protection of wise laws, and the invigorating influences of beneficent institutions.

It is impossible to contemplate even so minute a department of the law as that to which the following pages are devoted, without perceiving something of the all-pervading spirit of progress and improvement which has hitherto vitalized the jurisprudence of our country. And of no State can this be more truly said than of Pennsylvania, within which your labors have been chiefly employed.

You have borne your full share, as a minister of the law, in giving form and consistency to that jurisprudence which, we trust, will carry it safely through the ordeal of a civil war, again to bless a prosperous and a united people.

In the hope that the light of returning harmony and prosperity over our common country, under the protection of Law, may yet gild the declining hours of so active and useful a life, permit me to subscribe myself, with high respect,

Your obedient servant,

CAMBRIDGE, February, 1863.

EMORY WASHBURN.