AND PECULIAR JURISPRUDENCE OF THE COURTS OF THE UNITED STATES. BY BENJAMIN ROBBINS CURTIS, LL.D. Second Edition, REVISED AND ENLARGED. BY HENRY CHILDS MERWIN, AUTHOR OF "THE PATENTABILITY OF INVENTIONS"; EDITOR OF แ MER- BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 1896. LIBRARY OF THE LELAND STANFORD JR. UNIVERSITI Copyright, 1880, BY BENJAMIN R. CURTIS. Copyright, 1896, BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. UNIVERSITY PRESS: PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE changes in the Statutory Law of the Federal Courts have been so great since the first edition of this book was published, that I have been obliged to omit a small part of it, and to add several new chapters and many new paragraphs. But my object has been-I need hardly say-to meddle as little as possible with the work of so great a lawyer and such a master of legal style as Judge Curtis. The notes to the first edition-with one or two exceptions were added by the editors of that edition. Most of them have been preserved in the present edition, and the new notes are enclosed in brackets. And so as to the text; my additions are enclosed in brackets, and all that part of it not so enclosed is the work of Judge Curtis, entirely unaltered. By the kindness of Judge Thayer, of the Eighth Circuit, I have been permitted to make free use of his admirable monograph on the Jurisdiction of the Federal Courts; and I am also indebted to Frederic Dodge, Esq., and James J. Storrow, Jr., Esq., for valuable suggestions. The first edition of these lectures was edited by Judge Curtis's brother, Mr. G. T. Curtis, and by his son, who bore his name, who was also a judge, and whose early death cut off a life which was dear to his friends and of high value to the community. BOSTON, June 1, 1896. H. C. M. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. THESE Lectures were delivered by the late Judge Curtis to a class of students in the Harvard Law School, in the academic year 1872-73. They were wholly oral and extemporaneous, the lecturer making use of only a few brief notes, and relying chiefly upon his very strong memory, which never failed him in the statement of principles or the citation of authorities. A verbatim report was made of each Lecture by a short-hand writer, and from the manuscripts written out by him, and revised by Judge Curtis, the Lectures are now printed, without any change of the text. But as they were delivered before the Revised Statutes went into operation, it became necessary to refer to that revision in the notes, for the purpose of guiding the reader to the re-enactment or change of the various statutes |