readability. These include reducing the bulk of footnotes; those who need fuller
documentation can use the original versions. Chapter 6 is based upon 'Contracts
for Cotton to Arrive: The Case of the Two Ships Peerless', which appeared in
the Cardozo Law Review in 1989, and is published with the permission of that
journal. ¹ Chapter 8 is based upon 'Legal Liability for Bursting Reservoirs: The
Historical Context of Rylands v. Fletcher', which appeared in the Journal of Legal
Studies in 1984. ² Chapter 10 is based upon 'Quackery and Contract Law: The
Case of the Carbolic Smoke Ball', which appeared in the same journal in 1985. ³
These two chapters are here published with the permission of the University of
Chicago Press. Chapter 5 is based upon an inaugural lecture delivered in the
University of Cambridge, and Chapter 9 began life as a Selden Society lecture.

The research for this book has been supported by the University of Michigan
Law School, and earlier by the Nuffield Trust. A large number of individuals
have also helped; I should particularly mention Mr Christopher Aggs, Dean
Douglas G. Baird, Professor John H. Baker, Professor Mary E. Becker, Mr A.
M. Berrett, Mrs Anil T. Blundell, Mrs Paula Bryars, Mr L. W. Capes, Miss
Elizabeth Carlill, Mr Peter D. R. Carlill, the Revd J. H. C. Davies, Professor
Charles Donahue, Professor Richard A. Epstein, Dr D. A. Farnie, Mrs G. Foyle,
Mr G. M. Binnie, Professor Richard H. Helmholz, Mr S. Geoffrey Holland,
Professor Dennis Hutchinson, Dr David Ibbetson, Mr C. P. C. Johnson, Mr R.
C. B. Jones, Mrs Vivienne Jones, Mr H. Kent, Professor John H. Langbein, Mrs
Hilda Lawn, Dr Geoffrey Marston, Mr G. Mast, Dr Boye Meyer-Friese, Dr Eric
Poole, Miss Ruth Tinley, Mrs Victoria M. Tipping, Dr R. F. Van der Sluis, and
Mr Alan Watson. I am also grateful as ever to Margaret Leary, Director of the
University of Michigan Law Library, and to all those who work in that remark-
able institution, in particular Barbara Vaccaro and the research librarians, and to
the staff of the Public Record Office, the House of Lords Records Office, and
the Essex, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, and West
Sussex Record Offices.

Finally I am most grateful to John Whelan, my editor, and to Hilary Walford
and Kate Elliott for converting an untidy manuscript into a book.

Illustrations number 1 and 3 are reproduced by permission of the National
Monuments Record, illustration number 2 by permission of the British Library,
illustration number 6 by permission of the National Maritime Museum, and
illustration number 8 by permission of the Manchester Public Libraries.

Crown copyright material in the Public Record Office is reproduced by per-
mission of the controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

A. W. B. S.

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