ical year, the original session and chapter appearing in parentheses at the head of each chapter, and at the end of the chapter, instead of the date of passage and publication, its date of approval. The Resolves are numbered according to session as in the originals. On the 9th April, 1839, the Secretary of the Commonwealth was empowered to pub lish, at the close of each session, all the laws and resolves and others, general and special, in one volume not limited by the number of pages. The work of the commission of 1865 and the empowering Act of 1889, relat ing to the Acts and Resolves from 1692 to 1 806, follows as far as practicable the plan pursued in the publication of the Acts and Resolves from 1839 to the present day. The period therefore of 1806 to 1839 has not been considered, and these separate sessions of the Acts and Resolves are very rare, and every year more difficult to find. I believe the three best collections covering this period belong to the State House Library, the Social Law Library and to Heman W. Chaplin, Esq., respectively, and the best one to the private citizen. Before considering the period 1806 to 1839 we must glance at an octavo edition covering the period 1776 to 1806, whose first printers were Edes & Son. A prelim inary volume, entitled, "The Revolution Period," first appeared. It was paged throughout, and, until March 14, 1776, the top of the page read : " In 50th year of the reign of Geo. 3d King etc." But after the Test Act " In the year of our Lord " became the reading, vol. I. begins after this, and the period is covered in three volumes for the Laws, and eleven volumes for the Re solves. The pagination of the Laws is regular to end of volume, while the enumera tion of the chapters is according to the session. The Resolves on the other hand are paged each session, except in one year, 1 778-1 780, when the paging was according to the political year; their chapters they enumerated by sessions.
After making a general statement applic able to both Laws and Resolves, namely, that there are supposed to be three sessions in the political year, called from their initial month, May, October and January, and that the October session only occasionally ap pears, we must consider the Laws and Re solves separately. We begin with the Laws whose first volume, numbering from the Edes Edition, is Volume 4. Volume 4 begins with the May session of 1 806 and is very irregular; it covers three political years, to January, 1809, and is made up of seven sessions. Its pagination is most irregular. May, 1 to 29, Jan., 1 to 130, May, 1 to 72. Now, these three sum up 231 pages, and Jan. begins with 237 and goes to 392, May, 393 to 415, Oct., 417 to 420, Jan., 421 to 510. There is a complete index Jor all seven sessions at end of Jan., 1809, session. The enumeration of the chapters is also very peculiar. Until Jan., 1808, there were no numbers, but they were distinguished merely by date when passed, which was printed at the end of the Act. Then Jan., 1808, begins its enumeration with XLVII-CXXXIX, May, 1808, I-CII, and May, 1809, and Jan., 1810, 1-CXXVIII; that is, first by date, second by session, and finally, by political year. Vol. 5 covers three political years, from May, 1809, to January, 18 1 2, and is made up of six sessions. The paging is regular and there is a complete index at the end of Jan uary, 1812. May, 1 to 47, Jan., to 226, May, to 254, Jan., to 382, May, to 510, and Jan., to 618. Enumeration of chapters is according to political year. Vol. 6 covers three political years, from May, 1812, to January, 1815, and is made up of eight sessions. The paging is regular, and there is a complete index at the end of January, 181 5. May, 1 to 132, Oct., to 148, Jan., to 222, May, to 308, Jan., to 478, May, to 560, Oct., to 584, Jan., to 694. Enumera tion of chapters is according to the political year.
