Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887, BY J. I. CLARK HARE, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. UNIVERSITY PRESS: PREFACE. THIS book originated from a course of lectures delivered in the law school of the University of Pennsylvania; and one object of the author was to trace the doctrine of consideration, and show how large a part it has in the theory of contracts at common law. In doing this, he was led to contrast the Roman Law, where the doctrine of consideration was unknown, or existed only in the germ, and he then passed to the law of sales as being a practical and important application of the principles of both systems. The work is now submitted to the profession, in the hope that it may cast some light on one aspect of the vast field of jurisprudence, which is continually expanding, and, though continually explored, will ever remain unexhausted. PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 1, 1887. |