Halsbury’s Laws of England-Being A Complete Statement of the Whole Law of England.
Editor in Chief
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF HALSBURY,
LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF GREAT BRITAIN, 1SS5-S6, 1SS6-92, and 1S95— 1905
The law of England, as they understood it, comprised the whole civil law, in whatever Courts administered, the criminal law, the law relating to the constitution, the jurisdiction, and procedure of the Courts, including the law of evidence and constitutional law, the commissioners proceeded to point out the extent and variety of the sources from which the existing law is to be ascertained. Speaking of the bulk of the statutes and the amount of judicial decisions, they calculated that the judicial decisions were included in thirteen hundred volumes, exclusive of a hundred and fifty volumes of Irish reports, and they calculated the number of cases at a hundred thousand. They recommended a digest, which they defined as a condensed summary of the law as it exists arranged in systematic order under proper titles and subdivisions, and divided into definite statements or propositions, which should be supported by references to the sources of the law whence they were severally derived, and might be illustrated by citations of the principal instances in which the rules stated have been discussed or applied.
The commission sat and took some evidence; but it is very remarkable that they made no allusion in their first report, the only one that ever appeared, to the exhaustive and complete Index to the Statutes, and the edition of them down to the reign of Queen Anne, which was prepared by very distinguished commissioners in answer to addresses of the House of Commons. Both the index and the edition of the statutes are a marvellous exhibition of painstaking labour and profound learning. The various volumes when published were deposited in the Parliament Ofiice, and received this inscription : This book is to be perpetually preserved in, and for the use of, the Parliament Office.”[Introduction by HALSBUEY]
Volume 1 [Action. Admiralty. Agency. Agriculture. Aliens. Allotments. Animals. Arbitration. Auction and auctioneers. Bailments. Bankers and banking.]
Volume 2 [Bankruptcy and insolvency. Barristers. Bastardy. Bills of exchange.]
Volume 3 [Bills of sale. Bonds. Boundaries, fences and party walls. Building contracts, engineers and architects. Building societies. Burial and cremation.]
Volume 4 [Carriers. Charities. Choses in action. Clubs. Commons and rights of common.]
Volume 5 [Companies.]
Volume 6 [Compulsory purchase of land and compensation. Conflict of laws. Constitutional law (Parts I V).]
Volume 7 [Constitutional law (Part VI to end). Contempt of court, attachment and committal. Contract.]
Volume 8 [Copyholds. Copyright and literary property. Coroners. Corporations. County courts.]
Volume 9 [Courts. Criminal law and procedure.]
Volume 10 [Crown practice. Custom and usages. Damages. Deeds and other instruments. Dependencies and colonies.]
Volume 11 [Descent and distribution. Discovery. Distress. Easements and profits a prendre. Ecclesiastical law.]
Volume 12 [Education. Elections. Electric lighting and power.]
Volume 13 [Equity. Estate and other death duties. Estoppel. Evidence.]
Volume 14 [Execution. Executors and administrators. Explosives. Extradition and fugitive offenders. Factories and shops. Family arrangements. Ferries. Fisheries.]
Volume 15 [Food and drugs. Fraudulent and voidable conveyances. Friendly societies. Game. Gaming and wagering. Gas. Gifts. Guarantee.]
Volume 16 [Highways, streets and bridges. Husband and wife. Income tax.]
Volume 17 [Industrial, provident and similar societies. Infants and children. Inhabited house duty. Injunction. Inns and innkeepers. Insurance. Interpleader.]
Volume 18 [Intoxicating liquors. Judgements and orders. Juries. Land improvement. Land tax. Landlord and tenant. Libel and slander.]
Volume 19 [Lien. Limitation of actions. Literary and scientific institutions. Loan societies. Local government. Lunatics and persons of unsound mind. Magistrates. Malicious prosecution and procedure.]
Volume 20 [Markets and fairs. Master and servant. Mayor’s Court, London. Medicine and pharmacy. Metropolis. Mines, minerals and quarries. Misrepresentation and fraud.]
Volume 21 [Mistake. Money and money lending. Mortgage. Name and arms, change of. Negligence. Notaries. Nuisance. Open spaces and recreation grounds. Parliament. Partition.]
Volume 22 [Partnership. Patents and inventions. Pawns and pledges. Peerages and dignities. Perpetuities. Personal property. Pleading. Police. Poor law. Post office.]
Volume 23 [Powers. Practice and procedure. Press and printing. Prisons. Prize law and jurisdiction. Public authorities and public officers. Public health and local administration. Railways and canals.]
Volume 24 [Rates and rating. Real property and chattels real. Receivers. Registration of births, marriages and deaths. Rent charges and annuities. Revenue.]
Volume 25 [Royal forces. Sale of goods. Sale of land. Set-off and counterclaim. Settlements. Sewers and drains. Sheriffs and bailiffs.]
Volume 26 [Shipping and navigation. Smallholdings and small dwellings. Solicitors.]
Volume 27 [Specific performance. Statutes. Stock exchange. Street and aerial traffic. Telegraphs and telephones. Theatres and other places of entertainment. Time. Tort. Trade and trade unions. Trademarks, trade names and designs. Tramways and light railways. Trespass. Trover and detinue.]
Volume 28 [Trusts and trustees. Valuers and appraisers. Water supply. Waters and watercourses. Weights and measures. Wills. Work and labour.]
Volume 29 [Consolidated table of cases.]
To be continued…..
Total 31 volumes
