October 25 1989

Mrs T. Thom,
The Library,
Gray's Inn,
London WC1

Dear Theresa (I hope I may?),

Holt MS Reports

Following our conversation last week, Mr Machin phoned me about the Holt MS
which I mentioned to you. He did say that having a display of any sort
might not be suitable at a dinner but agreed that I should let you know
about this MS anyway.

What I know of the MS reports of Holt is as follows. (I repeat however
that Professor Baker is the acknowledged expert on English legal MSS.)

There are to my knowledge 3 extant MSS of Holt's reports. None is in his
handwriting, and it seems that Holt did not himself keep the detailed
judge's notebook of his own decisions which other notable judges did.
Instead he relied on others to report him, which they did quite well and
fully.

(A) Lincoln's Inn MS Misc. 713: begins "Cases and Reports in the King's Bench...Mr King (after Lord King) did in the end of K. William's reign and the beginning of Queen Anne's let me have (in vacations) the use of his study and liberty to transcribe any of his manuscripts. Almost all of these reports were transcribed from his (who wrote short hand) taken by himself....I lent this book to my Lord Chief Justice Lee. He finished the index of names, made the index rerum thereto,...and made some notes in the margin all in his own hand,..." The writer is Edward Jackson,

(B) My MSS: It is a thick bound volume in good internal condition but with the front cover detached. The binding looks to be late 18th century. It has the book-plate of Chief Justice Lee. The first 20 or so pages are in Lee's handwriting, as is the index rerum. On the first page Lee states that he got the cases from Denton J and that they were taken by Lord King CJ when he was a practiser, "as Mr Jackson of the Middle Temple acquainted me".

(C) Nottingham University has a Mellish MS of reports of Holt's decisions.
I have not seen this,

I have made detailed comparisons of (A) and (B) above. There are
considerable differences between them. The cases in (B) are on the whole a
little later in time, though neither MS is in strict chronological order,

They also differ from the printed reports of Skinner, Lord Raymond, etc. They are clearly not copied from one another. I would think that (A) and (B) and perhaps (C) descend from notes which King took in the K.B. in lawyers' shorthand. He allowed various members of the bar to make copies of cases which interested them, either from his shorthand notes or as copied up by him. Jackson made version (A) and lent it to Lee. Lee already had the version made by Denton from King's notes and, with help, copied this for his own use, making (B). Lee would have found (A) useful for comparison and for making the index rerum, which he did for both MSS.

The upshot of all this is that all these MSS are at least two stages removed from Holt himself. (I don't think that any of the printed named reporters' MSS survive.) They certainly show the authority that Holt enjoyed and the deference in which the succeeding Chief Justices held him. I doubt whether this would warrant putting them on show at the dinner or in the library, but if you would like to consider this further, I would be willing to lend mine.

Yours sincerely,