A Speech Delivered before the Municipal Court of the City of Boston, in Defence of Abner Kneeland, on an Indictment for Blasphemy. By Andrew Dunlap. Boston. Printed for the Publisher. 8vo. pp.

132.

Report of the Arguments of the Attorney of the Commonwealth, at the Trials of Abner Kneeland, for Blasphemy, in the Municipal and Supreme Courts, in Boston, January and May, 1834. Boston. Beals, Homer & Co. 8vo. pp. 93.

[Very able. It contains a full examination and affirmation of the doc⚫trine that Christianity is a part of the Common Law.]

Treatise on New Trials. By David Graham. New York. Holsted and Voorhies. 8vo.

[A useful work. We have given an analysis of it in our present number.]

Burrow's Reports. 2nd American from the 4th London edition. Edited by J. P. Hall, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. New York. 1833. O. Halsted.

[The original five volumes are, by means of close printing and leaving out such cases as are supposed to be peculiarly English, condensed into two. We do not know that the editor has condensed Sir James Burrow's proverbially minute statements of facts and reports of arguments of counsel.]

Cowper's Reports. 2d American from the last London edit. Edited by J. Prescott Hall, Esq., Counsellor at Law. 8vo. New York. 1833. O. Halsted.

[Mr. Hall has served Cowper as he has Sir James Burrow.] Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Judicial Court of the State of Maine. By Simon Greenleaf, Counsellor at Law. Vol. 8th. 8vo. Portland. Wm. Hyde, for Z. Hyde. 1834.

[Professor Greenleaf's high character as a Reporter is well known.] A Treatise upon the Practice of the Court of Chancery, with an Appendix of Forms. By Murray Hoffinan, Esq. Vol. 1. 8vo. New York. 1834. Halsted & Voorhies.

[We think very well of this work, so far as we have looked into it. Upon the appearance of the 2d volume we shall review it.]

A Discourse on the Life and Character of William Wirt, late Attorney-General of the United States; pronounced at the request of the Baltimore Bar, before the citizens of Baltimore on the 26th of May, 1834. By John P. Kennedy. 8vo. Baltimore. 1834. Wm. & J. Neal. pp. 63.

[A florid discourse, giving the leading events of Mr. Wirt's life, accompanied by appropriate reflections upon his character.] Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, By William Rawle, Jun. Vol. 4th. 8vo. Philadelphia. 1834.

Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Tennessee, during the year 1832. By George Yerger, Reporter of the State. Vol. 3. 8vo. Nashville. Hall & Haskell, State Printers. pp. 613.

Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeals of Virginia. By Daniel Call. Vols. 4, 5 & 6. 8vo. Richmond. 1833. Robert J. Smith.

[Reviewed in this number.]

Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeals and in the General Court. By Benjamin Watkins Leigh. Vol. 3. 8vo. Richmond. Samuel Sheppard & Co. pp. 861.

[Mr. Leigh is the distinguished Senator of the United States, from Virginia.]

Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudicated in the Supreme Court of Judicature of the State of New Jersey, from November Term, 1831, to February Term, 1833, inclusive. By James S. Green, Counsellor at Law and Reporter of Cases adjudicated in the Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey. Vol. 1. 8vo. Trenton. 1833. George Sherman. pp. 376.

Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeals of South Carolina, on Appeal from the Courts of Law. By H. Bailey, State Reporter. Containing the Decisions from May, 1828, to June, 1830, inclusive. Vol. 1. 8vo. Charleston. November, 1833. pp. 702.

Reports of Cases at Law, Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeals of South Carolina. By W. R. Hill, State Reporter. Vol. 1. Containing the Decisions during the year 1833. Evo. Columbia. March, 1834.

[We have reviewed both these volumes of South Carolina Reports in the present number.]

Tayler's Law Glossary. 8vo. Albany. 1833.

[This work is reviewed in the present number.]

IN PRESS.

Collyer on Partnership, with Notes of American Cases. By W. Phillips and E. Pickering. This work is in the press of Messrs. G & C. Merriam, of Springfield; the prin.ing is very nearly finished, and the work will be soon published.

Treatise on Insurance. Vol. 2. By W. Phillips. The printing of this volume is very nearly finished. It includes legal proceedings on policies not included in the first volume. It also includes the cases subsequent to the first volume. It will shortly be published by Nicklin & Johnson, Philadelphia.

THE LAW LIBRARY,

EDITED BY JOHN PURDON, ESQUIRE,

OF THE PHILADELPHIA BAR.

It is the object of this publication, to furnish gentlemen of the bar with the most important British elementary treatises upon Law, in a form which will render them far less expensive than works of this description have hitherto been. To gentlemen residing at a distance from the principal cities, the advantages of this publication will be apparent. The very low price at which it will be offered, and the facility with which important works in the periodical form, can be transmitted by mail, are the attractions upon which it will depend for public favor.

The selection of the works to be embraced in this collection, is confided to the gentleman above named, already widely and favorably known to the profession. It will be understood that it forms no part of the plan to admit original communications, or to give the work, in any degree, the character of a journal. Distinct in its design, it cannot interfere with any existing periodical, nor is it intended at any time to depart from the present plan, which is to re-print British elementary treatises, suited to the business and practice of this country, in a cheaper and more convenient form than has ever yet been done. For this purpose the proprietor will receive from his agent in London, at the earliest date, every important publication as it issues from the press.

The plan of this publication is believed to be such as to recommend it very strongly to the support of the profession generally in the United States. Many valuable works will be circulated in it that would not otherwise be reprinted in this country; works calculated to enlarge the science of jurisprudence, and to elevate the character of the profession, at an expense very much less than the usual cost of law books. To the practitioner in the interior it is believed to be highly important. The cost of the English copies of the valuable works roprinted during the year which terminated with the 12th No. is very little less than sixty dollars. The price of the Library during that period is ten dollars.

Material of the most valuable kind is abundant, and the arrangements, of the subscriber for obtaining all the recent elementary treatises of the English law press, will enable the editor to select for the Library the future works of several distinguished jurists, some of whose productions have appeared during the past year, in other forms. Whilst it is the wish of the proprietor to furnish the profession with the most important British elementary treatises upon law, in a form which will render them far less expensive than works of this description have hitherto been, he will not be unmindful, when transferring them to the Library, of the importance of availing himself of every improvement in their mechanical execution which the country

may afford.

The Law Library' is published in monthly numbers, royal octavo, of about 200 pages, at $10 per annum, payable in advance, and will be sent by mail to any part of the United States. No work will be re-printed that will not be valuable to every lawyer, wherever his residence in the United States may be, and n oexpense will be spared on the part of the proprietor to render his publication in every respect worthy of extensive circulation.

Published by JoHN S. LITTELL, Philadelphia. Subscriptions received by LILLY, WAIT, & Co., Boston-general agents for New England. July, 1834.

List of LAW BOOKS, &c. belonging to the Estate of a Professional Gentleman. They are generally in good binding, and

will be sold low by the Subscribers.

Massachusetts Reports, Vols. 1 to 12, & 16.

Wheaton's Reports, Vols. 1, 3, 5 & 6.

Saunder's, Sir Edward, Reports, 3 Vols.

Durnford & East's Reports, 8 Vols., 5 Vols. wanting.

Burrow's Reports, 5 Vols.

Bosanquet and Puller's Reports, 5 Vols.

Robinson's Reports.

Campbell's Reports, 2 Vols.

Sundry Reports.

Binney's Reports, 5 Vols.

American State Papers, 4 Vols., 1801-6, 1808-15.

Massachusetts State Papers, 1765-1775.

Laws of Massachusetts, Vol. 1st.

Comyn's Digest, 6 Vols.

Probate Directory.

Bacon's Town Officer.
Dickinson's Digest.

Tidds' Practice, 2 Vols.

Story's Pleadings.

Phillips on Evidence.

Dickinson's Justice.

Powell on Contracts.

Rawle on the Constitution.

Law of Partnership.

Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws.

Runnington on Ejectments.

Oliver's Conveyancing.

Selfridge's Trial.

Day's Algebra.

Mc Duffie's Speech on Amendment of the Constitution.
Impartial Inquirer.

Sundry Trials.

LILLY, WAIT & CO., 121, Washington Street, Boston.

AMERICAN JURIST.

NO. XXIV.

OCTOBER, 1834.

ART. I.-A LECTURE ON THE ALLEGED UNCERTAINTY OF THE LAW; DELIVERED BEFORE THE BOSTON SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE, MARCH 5th 1830. BY JOHN PICKERING, COUNSELLOR AT LAW.

[The following lecture on the alleged uncertainty of the law' formed a part of the general course of popular lectures delivered before the Boston Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, during the winter of 1829-30. In the journals of the day, it was said to have been listened to by an audience composed of intelligent young men, gathered from different walks in life, and giving an apparently eager attention to a subject that is generally considered dry and uninteresting to all but professional readers.' Believing, that although it was intended as a merely popular discussion, adapted to a mixed audience, it will not be unacceptable to professional readers, at least of the younger class, we have requested the author to permit its publication in this Journal. ED. J.]

GENTLEMEN,

THE uncertainty of legal proceedings, says our juridical classic, Blackstone, is a notion so generally adopted, and has so long been the standing theme of wit and good humor, that he who