Semi-weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1852-1853, 1853-06-29

Supreme Court Repor1ss

Holden for the fne appearance made BY the two
4 numbers Of Busbee. If their title pages shewed
that they were printed at the Office IF he Sandard
1 of course. would not have tried your modesty
! as 10 send my compliments to seek the public
Through Your columns. But in the absence of expa-
Ination as TO who The /" W. w. Holden I" thereupon
is-He of the STANDARD. Therefore. may very
well whisper 10 the STANDARD that W. w. Holden -
who printed Bttsbee has exhibited therein speci-
men Of printing that has been equalled amongst
all the North Carolina Reports from the beginning
one which entities him 10 the appellaIion hitherto
solely worn by the other W. W. Holden-viz the
Standard man.
! Nothing. Mr.. Editor, can be more delicate than
the attention which " w. w. Holden - has paid TO
the Bar, by giving them the benefit of so good pa
per and such excellent type. put up in manner so
creditabe TO the craft. 1t lie well known that if the
Bar has any weak point ii lies in their eyes, apd not
in thelI conscences. Devoting their lives TO the
perusal of black letter, and and small type,
and their own manuscripts, they take 10 spectaces
at an earlier period than the followers of any other
calling. For instance. there is our Supreme Court
understand that when that tribunal is set, (the
Judges, Clerks, Marshal and Reporter, all having
on spectacles,) more venerable company it were
hard 10 ind. Yet venture 10 say that the author
OF BuS6ee Is not so old some of the Others
That his glasses are not for ornament, sufficiently
appears by their not being of gold. Still take this
method Of saying publicly, that land use spec.
tacies neither in public. nor in prvate-knew the
Reporter when he was young He cannot be
much over-but forbear. II goes 10 confirm this
view of the feebleness of sight enjoyed by lawyers,
to hear that in late case, strongly contested before
the Supreme Court, although the Court divided
upon almost every other point. 1t assumed as
mdcim that persons whose sight has failed through
age, cannot he called unsOund! xiii IredeH, 356.
And although the careless reader might gather from
the case on page 49l of the book that the
Court disposed value itself upon its eyesight,
yet closer examination suggests that the PROPOSE
ton there laid down has its antiquities. - His
eyes good as ours is certainly skfuly word
q he there
is the ambiguous 't rere;" and the suggestion that
" his eyes may possibly be better " than
ours; )" and moreover. unless parol evidence shall
show how " good IS his eyes' are how shall it be
known what is gained by bringing up Supreme
Court vison 10 their Standard? conclude then that
the presentation of the clear page of Busbee TO
weak eyed fraternity, entities s. w. w. Holden to
their thanks. No doubt he will receive them and
moreover in case he shall have occasion IS 10
sue and be sued. plead and be mpleaded'' no doubt
but the Profession will stand by him TO the last
dollar. This latter conclusion is of the i'm
Portance, because no doubt but that gener-
Gus tempered publisher of Reports will long be-
come fascinated by the exciting game therein perl
odcay brought to his attention. Certain it is, that
an observation extended through several Terms, of
the unerring manner in which justice closes in upon
some one OF the parties to suits-now the defendant
and exc, row the plaintiff must sir the blood. and if
one has righteousness in him. must cause il to BIOS
som and bear fruit
Having thus presented my views as TO the great
merits of the publisher of Bt.sbee, and Swallowed
forth the rewards probably in for him, pro-
pose TO speak Of the Reporter. The disappearance
of the blank quarter and half pages which mar
red the later volumes of the Reports is a merit as
we'll of the publisher the Reporter. These blanks.
so dlsdsreeabe to the eye, and peculiar to our Re-
ports, answered but purpose-to increase the
price of books already dsproE ortonately expensive
Then the spaces left between the cases were, in |
some of our latest volumes, much larger than for
meriy; and may add, out Of all taste. II gives
some idea of their superfuous size to observe that
in the English Reports. published by Lille d BrOun,
of Boston, the page of which is forty per
larger than that of IL & IS LedeK the intervals be-
tween the cases are barely a halfnch long, whilst !
those OF the latter books full inch and half.
II Is very gratify ling to observe how completely !
these things have been swept away under the adj
ministration of our new Reporter. The page of
Bus'ee is longer and broader than its immediate |
predecessors. Indeed it is considerably the largest
page ever given 10 the N. G. Reports. The follow
ing is the result Of some little pains have been at
in comparing the pages Of various volumes Of Deo,
Der. S' Bat. EedeH and BuSbec. Without making [
allowance for blanks, if one hundred pages of Bur-
bee worth 81 90, equal number of Deu. ought
to bring $o.ss3; Der. 5 Bat. SO.934; LredeN
SO.923; Lred $O.S43; 10 Lred. $O.8I4; Is Zred. !
$O.76. If to these deficiencies are added what is
clearly superfuous of the blank spaces, 10 Ied is
worth (as compared above) $O75, and IS Lred |
1910. In arriving at this result adopt line,
the average of ten lines taken at random from var-
Gus pages.
Here, them at the outset, we discover an improve
ment in pecuniary value amounting to nearly one
tnlIO o. Inc WnOe. II we could TeQuce 10 collars |
and cents, the increased advantages arising from the
superior execution of the book respects printing
and reporting, this difference might be enhanced to |
one-half.
What has been attained however in Busbee is
much less considerable than what is promised.
There is air of good taste and Of attention which
inspires hope that in future Reports in all
respects to be equal TO those of any other State.
For instance. Mr. Busbee furnishes his brethren with
an index of matters upon the of the number.
which is very convenient, and will be thor oughly
appreciated by those who, upon the circuit are sud-
denly called upon to apply principle dimly recol-
lected as being someUhere in 81 late number Be-
sides, and this is worthy of remark in N. G. book
of Reports, no is sent 10 the public without
statement of the facts upon which it arose-either by
tht Court or by the Reporter. Then the misprints,
which in former volumes were legion have
been reduced to mere handful, and are generally T.
of that degree for which the Law does not care.
And here particularly does it become me thrice to
cry Pale! to a stranger whom of late l have fire..
queDtly met oDg The opinions. / allnde 10 " Sc
re Facias." was upon the point of starting query.
In the corner of some newspaper TO the origin of
this phrase, but deferred by fear lest might
involve myself in difficulty similar to that begot.
ten by Distribute year two since. AS it is,
although am gratifed TO learn that it is no more,
yet confess the disappearance does not do me the
good it would have done terms ago. l was
gradually becoming reconced upon the ground of
precedent, of which there about fifty in favor of
the expression. Moreover, I said 10 myself
that the Latin has been dead language so long, no
wonder that of it's phrases beginning to un-
dergo decomposition.