Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-08-13
Gbe FIREMAN
MONTPELIER, VT,
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST Is, 1873.
Law Reporting.

Law Reporting.
1t is the acknowledge duty of government
to keep the people informed of its laws
This duty is fulfilled but partially by the
publication of statute law and is completed
only bv careful provision for reporting judi
cial decisions Were this done there would
be less injustice in the wake of the maxim
that q" ignorance of the law excuses NO
man. for every one m ght of himself (or
by his lawful attorney come to knowledge
of the rules of action which should gov IN
his conduct and that of his neighbor.
But even with the most jud'c:ous system OF
reporting, the publication of jude all decis-
ions for the enlightenment of the mass S
borders closely on legal fiction. Although
for &c fcation, " the books are O. necessity
lim in their use to the profession, and
perhaps in rare instances somewhat so I'm
tied within it. But it is of consequence to
the people as well as TO the lawyers t1at the
latter should get good law from the reports.
The evils which have beset the stem o.
reporting and among them the Un1ecessa1y
multiplication of books have long attracted
attention and elected complaints here as
elsewhere.
LIST March the Association Of the Bar of
the City of New York appointed com mittee
to prepare plan for amending the s. ten,
and in May the copmirtee, through is c1a.r-
man, Mr.. L. l.. Delafeld, made a repor.
which contains many items of inte1e to
the general public as well as to the gertle
men to whom it was particularly addressed.
Fo, the SOS years previous to 1872 there
were pub Ished n England, ,036 volu mes of
reports and 10 1871 the American rero: IS
had reached the great number of 20l2. The
State of New York alone tas some 400 VOL
umes and is increasing the number at the
rate of twenty every year. 10 1865 the
English lawyers inaugurated reform and
the reporting there is now done under he
supervision of committee appointed by the
several Ions of Court associated with repre-
se1tatiVes of the government. Under this
arrangement the reports eff each year are
supplied to the members of the Associ aeon
for about thirty dollars.
The New York committee complain OF
several things, the first of which we are,
from the nature, of the case, free rom IN
this State, this beng the multiplication o;
reports of the same caee. Cases are fou I'd
that are reported no less than SIX OF seven
and in some instances IS high as git mes, }
the various SEXES. Tney further condemn al.
their reporters except Judge Daily, for using
no Determination 10 the cnaracteI Of cases
given. Cases enunciating no new principle
aud giving no useful illustration of "a Cd
one sGe crowded In for the purpose of book
making. Two thirds of the cases reported
are declared to come under this head. Opin
ions of the inferior couIts a'e put side by
eide with those of the court OF final resort in
the same case, when of course that of tre
latter would be sufficient.
Again the reports are ca:eIeGsly pre,a ed.
When the CAGES a;e Intricate the practice is
too Often to dismiss all statement of tire Iact>
with the remark that " the facts appear su :
fcient'J 10 the opinion OF the COURT Blu.
10 a supple case plead;ngs, testimony and
argrnen spread over page after page FRO
li-ity has crept even into some of the op =
IONS, and quot items of needless length are
there found where a mere reference would
suffice.
Worse than all is the reckless reporting
that m.sleads those who place any reliance
upon what is lad down as the law. Cases
are found like one In Barbour where tie
opinion OF the Supreme Court was reported
tn years after the op MONS had been deliver
ed, nine years after its first appearance in
his series, and nine years also ate: it had
been reversed in the Court OF Appeals. A
still lower depth of stupidity is sometimes
found where the opinion published as tnas OF
the Cou;s IS that of a dissenting Judge; and
these Dissenting opinions have c-ept INTO the
digests, being taken from the head notes o.
the cases.
This State with its one report year, is
happily nos disgraced BY such pe;fo, panee5
as this last aud affords no SO glazing iosita-
tions for inveigh.1g against the " uncerda nty
of the law" Yet there are cases where more
time and study would have enabled the re,
porte-s to bring out more clearly the exact
point dec ded and to make the search less
f.uitlsss for the par.icuia: place in the op.n-
ion that exactly sane. ;ons the head note.
PnIIrIcII The Ohin Damocratin State