DOMESTIC LAWYER

WITH

PLAIN AND SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS

FOR THE

MERCHANT, FARMER, AND MECHANIC,

TO ENABLE THEM TO TRANSACT THEIR BUSINESS
ACCORDING TO LAW.

BY JOHN WHITLEY, Esq.,

ATTORNEY-AT-LAW, TORONTO.

WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING THE NEW INSOLVENT
ACT, STATUTE LABOR ACT AND STAMP ACT.

[con7908,65 VI.13137"

HARVARD COLLEGE

APR 23 1919

LIBRARY

Carance m Warner

Entered according to the Act of the Provincial Parliament, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five,

BY SAMUEL VIVIAN,

Proprietor and Publisher, Stratford, C. W.

88-187

49

PREFACE.

THIS work is presented to the public, not as one which will altogether do away with the necessity for the advice and assistance of a lawyer,- for such a claim in its behalf would be simply ridiculous,- but merely as a guide to the farmer and merchant in the ordinary business details of every-day life.

It frequently happens that recourse is had to a lawyer for the preparation of a simple instrument, or for advice on some trivial point, which would be quite unnecessary if a book like the present were at command. For all such cases it has been especially prepared.

The father of a family does not think of calling in the aid of a doctor for every trifling indisposition to which any of his household

3

may be subject; and there is as little reason why a rush should be made to a lawyer for

the preparation of every little document or for advice upon every small matter which should be plain to the ordinary comprehension of every common-sense person.

The merit of absolute originality is not claimed for this work. The compiler (for he assumes no other appellation) has drawn largely from sources with which the professional man is familiar, but which are practically closed to the general public. To recapitulate the various sources whence information and assistance have been sought, would be alike tedious and superfluous.

It has not been deemed advisable to cumber this work with many special forms, which are serviceable only to the professional man. In every case of intricacy the reader is advised still to have recourse to his lawyer for that aid and assistance which no work of this kind could give him. Whenever the matter in hand

passes out of the category of a plain and simple ordinary every-day-matter, the reader is reminded of the old adage that "he who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client."

With these remarks, this work is submitted to the judgment of the public. If it meets their approbation, the objects of the compilation, undertaken at the instance of the publisher, will have been accomplished.