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PREFЯСЕ.

BY an act of the General Affembly of Virginia, dated December 28th, 1792,

it was ordained, that a collection should be made of all fuch acts of the Af fembly, of a public and permanent nature, as were then in force. For this purpofe, feveral lawyers were folicited to fuperintend the compilation. Mr. Davis, then printer to the Commonwealth, did not get the work completed 'till the clofe of the year 1794. It, therefore, embraced all fuch laws, of a public and permanent nature, as were pafied during the feffion, which commenced November 11th, 1794.

It was unavoidably to happen that this collection would almost immediately become defective; and that its defects were to increase annually, and without intermiffion. The new laws of the more important clafs were, for the mot part, occupied in altering, or in repealing fome of their predeceffors Here, it was evident, that if a man of business was not regularly fupplied with t additional laws, the Revised Code would be quite as likely to lead him ipo miffakes, as to give him proper information, The confequence was, at every practitioner of the law found it neceffary to purchase, annually, th large folio pamphlet, containing the laws of each fucceeding affembly. In the course of a man's life, thefe publications would have fwelled into a library; and, what was extremely inconvenient, by far the greater part of them wee laws of a local and private nature, which were totally useless, and a mee incumbrance to the practitioner in a court.

This Revised Cade, with all its augmenting imperfections, had become extremely scarce. The original price was eight dollars. But it was almost impoffible to obtain the book at any price whatever. The contant demand for the Revised Code induced the proprietors of the prefent work to publish proposals for a second, and improved edition, which was ro bring down the collection fo late as to the end of the feffion of December, 1801. In the former

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