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VIN VIDIAN, AND. The Exact Pleader ; or, a Book of Entries of choice Select and Special Pleadings in the Court of King's Bench ; with the Method of Proceeding in all Manner of Ac- tions, &c. fol. London. 1684. Sir B. Shower says, " Vidian was well known to be a good Clerk, and a carious observer of what passed here." 1 Shower, 111. VINCENS, EMILE. Exposition raisonnee de la Legislation Commerciale. 3 vols. 8vo. Paris. 1821. The more one studies Commercial Legislation, the more he will appre- ciate the work of Vincens. It is one of the best books with which I am acquainted upon this subject. I always deem myself fortunate when I can place my opinion under the protection of the words and authority of Vincens. Nouguier. VINER, CHARLES. A General Abridgment of Law and Equity, Alphabetically Digested under proper Titles; with Notes and References to the whole. 23 vols. fol. Aldershot. 1742-53. 2d ed. 24 vols. 8vo. London. 1791-94. The plan of the work is thus described by the author : " I doubt some gentlemen, who have been startled at the length of this work, and the expense thereof, have not duly considered, and distinguished the matter of a General Abridgment from that of a Digest or Institute, however widely different they are. Such an Abridgment ought to contain so much of every particular Case, however dispersed in the several books of law extant, without omitting ahuost any one which concerns the Title or head, and the sub-division under which it is placed ; it being calcu- lated for the ease and convenience of gentlemen, by pointing out to them at once, without loss of lime, the very authorities they want. So that, as I said before, this, in the very. nature of it, must be a voluminous work ; whereas, a Digest or Institute is rather a short system or theory, and an abstract of the general tenor of the law, by joining many Cases together without regard to any particular distinction therein contained, and serves only to give a general idea." This laborious author spent nearly fifty years upon his Abridgment, the most voluminous production of any single individual in the whole bibliography of the Common Law. Whatever is to be found in the old Abridgments, or in all printed and several MS. Reports anterior to Geo. III., Mr. Viner has translated, abridged, remodelled, and introduced or referred to in his work. The author is thought, by Mr. Margrave, to have erred in making RoUe's Abridgment the basis of his. The cha- racter of Mr. Viner's performance is thus given by Mr. Justice Story. "It is a cumbersome compilation, by no means accurate or complete in its citations, and difficult to use, from the irregularity with which the 711