EDITOR'S PREFACE.
As the text of this work may be supposed to have now
become, by the death of Mr. Wheaton, unalterable, it has
been thought judicious to adopt a new mode of division, for
the greater convenience of reference. The text is accordingly divided into short sections, the numbering of which is
continued through the book; so that hereafter, the sections
being permanent and the text unaltered, the book may
be cited by the sections, without regard to editions or to
pages.
It was Mr. Wheaton's practice, in new editions, to revise
his text, and not to put new matter into notes. It will be
found, therefore, that his notes are short, and contain rarely
any tiling more than references to the authors discussed in
the text.
This edition contains nothing but the text of Mr. Wheaton, according to his last revision, his notes, and the original matter'contributed by the editor. Mr. Wheaton's notes
are indicated by letters. The original contributions of the
editor are all in the form of notes, which are indicated by
numbers, enclosed in brackets, and signed with the letter D.