L31286

MAR 2 5 1949

Entered according to the act of congress, this seventh day of July, eighteen hundred and forty-one, by SMITH & PALMER, in the clerk's office of the district court of the eastern district of Virginia.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

In the following work, the text of the Revised Code of 1819 has been adopted; and the laws subsequently enacted, have been added, under the appropriate titles, so as to present the Laws of Virginia, at the close of the session of the general assembly of 1822-3.

The words of the laws, as enacted by the legislature, have been departed from, in a few instances, for the sake of brevity: The legislative dress—Be it enacted, &c., has, generally, been omitted ;in some instances, sections have been divided, and in others, the very words of the original have not been given. These departures from the original have, generally, been designated by a dash, (—) preceding or following the section. The mode adopted in the Revisal of 1819, to designate the amendments therein introduced ;— namely, single inverted commas, has been adhered to; and the amendments and additions since that period, have been designated by brackets, and their respective dates affixed. When two dates are given, separated by a dash, the first is the day of enactment, and the second of operation: Stat. Larg. means the edition by Mr. Hening;-R. C., in the citations of prior laws, the editions of 1803 and 1814;-and when no book is cited, Session Acts are understood.

The principles of the judicial constructions, have been extracted from the cases, with care; and, the cases cited from the published records of England-of our sister states, and of the United States, 'tis hoped, will prove on examination, analogous to, and illustrative of, the judicial decisions and Laws of Virginia.

With these remarks, the work is submitted, with its many imperfections; though not without a hope, that, it may prove useful to those for whom it is intended.

Richmond, October 1823.