Note 1 — PREFACE.

These MS. copies are sometimes referred to as Abstracts or Abridgments. Neither of these characters, however, strictly speaking, is attributable to them; and Excerpts or Abbreviates are the more appropriate designation: for although in some instances there are chasms occasioned by mutilation of the original Record whence they were copied, and although they do not contain all the proceedings at every sederunt, there is the strongest presumption, arising both from internal and from authentic collateral evidence, that so far as these excerpts extend, they are substantially and truly fair transcripts from the original Record. This, however, is not the place to discuss this point.