The Hedaya (Commentary on The Islamic Laws)

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Advertisement To The Second Edition

In further pursuance of the design to which I alluded in my Preface to the Third Edition of Menu’s Institutes, I now present to the profession the Second Edition of the HEDAYA. As this work has been made a text-book by the Council of Legal Education, for the examination of the students of the Inns of Court, who are qualifying themselves for call to the English Bar, with a view of practising in India; as the First Edition, by Mr. Hamilton, has been some time out of print; its bulk (four .quarto volumes) is not calculated to assist reference to its pages; and its price had increased in proportion to the difficulty of obtaining it, I felt it a duty to publish a new Edition, in order to bring It somewhat more with in the reach of the students, not only with reference to its size, but its cost. I have accordingly, therefore, prepared this Edition for those enterprising Publishers, Messrs. W. H. Alien & Co. A large portion of the work having become obsolete, in consequence of the abolition of slavery, and from other causes, I have expunged the books containing those portions from the present Edition, they being more interesting to the antiquarian (who can consult the First Edition) than useful 10 the student or practitioner, and their insertion would not only have increased the bulk of the volume, but its expense also, I have, however retained in the “Introductory Discourse” the translators’ epitome of those books from which the object and scope of the obsolete law .nay be learned. Where portions of the expunged subject” have been incidentally mixed up with others, I have been constrained to retain such portions lest the context might, by their omissions, be involved in obscurity, The second edition is now comprised in one volume, printed in double columns, and in smaller type than the original, with a view of comprising it within that compass, but, as the type is clear, it is conceived that no disadvantage will result from this. Wherever any subject is omitted, I have inserted a note, expressing my reasons for expunging it. A large portion of the original translation had been printed in Italic letters. For the sake of uniformity and clearness, this plan has not been adopted in the present Edition. I have added a very copious Index, which will facilitate reference to the context; and I should have embodied in foot-notes, reference t the cases that have been decided upon the various subjects of which the work treats, but that I have already done so in that portion of my work on “the Mahommedan Law of Inheritance and Contract,” in which the same subjects are discussed, and where those cases will be found collected.

Although the present Edition has been published with a view of assisting the student to prosecute his studies, yet the hope is entertained that the Judge, as well as the Practitioner, will find it useful, particularly in those provinces where the Mahommedan law demands a great portion of the attention of the judicial, as well as that of the practitioner. It is hoped, also, that it may be found useful in promoting the study of the law in the several Universities in India, it being advisable to assimilate the curriculum in both countries as much as possible.

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