The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-06 00:00:00

Law Reporting.

The Council of Law Reporting, which owes its
existence to a scheme for the amendment of the pre-
sent system of law reporting, which was approved
and adopted by the bar at a general meeting con-
vened for the purpose by the Attorney-General, and
held under his presidency on the 28th of November,
1864, have issued an address to the Lord Chancel-
lor and the other judges of both law and equity
courts. The other three inns of court and the In-
corporated Law Society appointed members of the
council, as proposed by the scheme ; and these mem-
bers, so appointed, with the concurrence of the At-
torney-General, the Solicitor-General, and the
Queen's Advocate, as ex-officio members, have un-
dertaken the duty of endeavouring to give effect to
the public improvement contemplated by the scheme.
It is proposed that the reports shall be placed under
the management and control of the council ; that
they shall beprepared by reporters, under the super-
vision of editors, all being barristers of reputation
and experience ; that they be published in monthly
parts, with regularity and promptitude ; and so that
as far as pi acticable, there be no arrears ; and that
the remuneration of the editors and reporters be by
salaries, with provision for future increase to an
amount, as it is hoped, commensurate with the value
of their professional services, and so as to leave
them no longer exposed to the risks, uncertainties,
and exactions which have been found to be inherent
in every system which makes law reporting a com-
mercial adventure, involving a trade profit. The
council have been enabled to make financial arrange-
ments for the establishment of the proposed reports
which place the interests of all those members of the
bar whose services will be engaged as editors and
reporters beyond the reach of any commercial risk.
The council have always considered themselves bound
to give effect to the provisions of the Bar scheme
according to their true intent and meaning, with
the view of accomplishing (if practicable) the prime
object of the scheme, viz., the establishment of one
complete set of reports under professional control.
By the 21st clause of the scheme it is contem-
plated that, for the establishment of the reports, a
subscription of £lO,OOO is essential. The council
have invited subscriptions for that purpose, and ob-
tained them to an amount which would have consi-
derably exceeded £lO,OOO if the Government gua-
rantee contemplated by that clause had been ob-
tained. It was, however, found impossible to obtain
that guarantee ; and that being so the council might,
had they been so minded, under the terms of the 22d
clause, have cancelled the list and abandoned all
further proceedings ; but with the full concurrence,
or rather at the urgent request of many members of
the bar, they have not done so. They have resorted
to the authority given to them by the 27th and 28th
clauses of the scheme. And having, to their great
regret, received no offer of assistance from any of
the London law publishers, they have entered into
arrangements with a firm of printers of large capital,
skill, and experience (Messrs. W. Clowes and Sons,
of Duke-street, Stamford-street), under which the
publication, sale, and distribution of the Reports are
undertaken at the entire risk of the printers for an
agreed commission of moderate amount. The receipt
of the subscriptions is retained by the council in order
that the moneys may be applied by them, and not
the printers, to the payment to the editors and re-
porters of the first moiety of the salaries which by
the scheme is proposed to be guaranteed. The sum
already subscribed far exceeds the amount of this
first moiety ; but in order that there may be no risk
or uncertainty whatever in the payment to the edi-
tors and reportere, a guarantee fund has been formed
by the voluntary subscription of members of the
profession. The fund now reaches £2,000 per
annum, and is exclusively devoted to the editors
and reporters. It was first signed by the Attorney-
General, Sir Roundell Palmer, after by the Lord
Justice Turner, Vice Chancellor Kindersley, and Vice
Chancellor Wood; and after having been also signed
by many leading members of the bar, has been since
signed by the Lord Chancellor for a larger amount
than any other individual guarantee. The printers
have engaged to make up the full subscription to
£lO,OOO, and to look exclusively to the surplus sub-
scriptions for payment of their charges for printing
and paper. These charges have been settled at fixed
rates of moderate amount. These arrangements the
council confidently represent as amply sufficient to
place the establishment of the proposed reports upon
a firm financial basis, and one perfectly satisfactory
to the editors and reporters appointed. Having thus
completed their financial arrangements, the council,
on the Ist August last, resolved that the proposed
reports should commence on the first day of Michael-
mas Term next; and in pursuance of that reso-
lution have selected the following gentlemen as
editors and reporters, subject to the approval of the
judges, as proposed by the bar scheme :—Editor,
common lair, Mr. J. R. Bulwer, Q.C. ; equity, Mr.
G. W. Manning. House of Lords, English and
Irish appeals ; Scotch appeals, Mr. J. F. Macqueen,
Q.C. Privy Council : This appointment is under
consideration. Courts of the Lord Chancellor and
the Lords Justices : Mr. Cadman Jones, Mr. Martin
Ware, Mr. Horton Smite. Court of Queen's Bench,
including appeals therefrom to Exchequer Chamber :
Mr. Wm. Mills, Mr. H. Holroyd. Court of the
Master of the Rolls : Mr. Chas. Marett, Mr. J. H.
Fordham, Mr. James Stirling. Court of the Vice-
Chancellor Kindersley : Mr. T. W. Gunning, Mr.
J. J. Smale. Court of the Vice-Chancellor 'Stuart :
Mr. J. W. De Longueville Giffard, Mr. T. F. Morse.
Court of the Vice-Chancellor Wood : Mr. J. B.
Davidson, Mr. F. G. A.Williams, Mr. W. D. Griffith.
Court of Common Pleas, including appeals to Ex-
chequer Chamber, Mr. John Scott, Mr. H. W.
Bompas. Court of Exchequer, including appeals to
Exchequer Chamber : Mr. J. Anstie, Mr. A. Charles.
Crown cases reserved : Mr. L. W. Cave, Hon. E.
Chandos Leigh. Admiralty and Ecclesiastical :
Mr. W. Ernest Browning. Probate, Matrimonial,
and Divorce : Dr. Tristram, Mr. R. Searle. In the
selection of these gentlemen, the council have been
guided wholly and exclusively by the directions
of the scheme and the merits and fitness of the gen-
tlemen chosen. The existing authorised reporters
for the several courts bay e therefore been invariably
preferred wherever they have consented to accept
the appointment ; and the council have every confi-
dence in the ability and competence of all selected,
faithfully and satisfactorily to discharge their duties.
The council have to regret that, after every possible
effort within the authority with which they are in-
vested to secure the services of the present autho-
rised reporters for the courts of Queen's Bench and
Exchequer and the Rolls Court, they have been
unable to prevail upon those gentlemen to accept
the appointment. The judges will no doubt recog-
nise the important result which will at once be
realised from the acceptance of the appointments by
so many of the authorised reporters, namely, the
discontinuance, from the first day of Michaelmas
Term next, of ten sets of reports which have been
hitherto published separately, each independently of
the other, at irregular and sometimes long pro-
tracted intervals, and at an immoderate cost. The
object of the bar scheme being the careful prepara-
tion of one complete set of reports by the most able
and experienced reporters, under independent pro-
fessional control, to be published with expedition,
regularity, and uniformity, and at the moderate cost
of five guineas a year for the entire work, the coun-
cil venture, on behalf of the profession, to present it
to the judges as a matter of public interest and im-
portance, and calculated to uphold the real interests
of the bar, by subjecting the exercise of one of its
most important privileges to those restrictions which
the public good, the true consideration for the privi-
lege, requires ; to facilitate the administration of
justice by simplifying and purifying the sources of
the law, and thus ultimately to lead to important
amendments in the law itself. For the furtherance
of this object, and upon public grounds alone,
the council by this address respectfully and
earnestly request the sanction and support of .
the judges for the following purposes :-
1. That the judges will approve of the appointment
of the several gentlemen named as reporters
to the several courts for which they have been se-
lected. 2. That the judges will be pleased to per-
mit the editors and reporters to have access to, and
the use of their written judgments, and all such
papers as the judges can control ; and will also, so
far as convenient and agreeable to the judges them-
selves, revise their unwritten judgments before pub-

lication. And 3dly. That the judges will recognise
the editors and reporters as members of the bar
exercising a professional privilege for a public ob-
ject, under responsibility, through the council, to
the judges, the bar, and the profession at large.