A TREATISE ON THE LAW OF REAL PROPERTY BY ALFRED G. REEVES, A.M., LL.B. PROFESSOR OF LAW IN THE NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL; AUTHOR OF 1 NSFER FROM C. O. SEP 1925 PREFA CEЕ. A large part of this book was published, five years ago, as a treatise on "Special Subjects" of the law of real property. The author then stated, in the preface, that he hoped to finish, within three or four years, a work on all the topics ordinarily comprised within that department of law. These two volumes embody the results of his efforts to realize that hope. The former portions of the treatise have been carefully revised, and their citations brought down to date; and the plan and outline contained in the fourth chapter have been closely followed in this the completed work. Arising from experience with the difficulties encountered by students of the law of real property, three ideals have prompted and controlled the writing of these pages. They are the presentation of that law, first, in the perfect light of its own history; second, divested as far as possible of technicalities; and third, practically complete within the sphere which the discussion purports to include. The book itself must fall far short of such ideals. But a few words as to each of them may briefly Explain what has been attempted. The philosophy of English and American history is manifested in few concrete forms or systems in which it is so thoroughly legible as in the common law of real property. There is a clear reason, in the development of the Anglo-Saxon race, for every important principle of that splendid, logical system. Therefore, the so-called modern law of real property can be appreciated only superficially when studied alone. And an attempt to learn it, without taking note of the civil and juristic struggles through which it has been evolved, is as unfortunate for the student as would be a mere study of those struggles, regardless of the resulting rules and theories that are controlling the practical men of to-day. The latest adjudications of the best courts, and the reasons for them, drawn from the profound, though sometimes technical, arguments of the ages, |