Reports and Digests as Needed in a Private

Law Library.

REPORTS AND REPORTERS.

Judge Dillon says in his work on the Laws and Jurisprudence of England and America: "The law, as a result of the ever-occurring changes in the condition of society and in legislation, is constantly changing. The old is, to a great extent, so well settled and known as to have become elementary and indisputable. It is the new that is unknown, and needs interpretation and definition. And as between the old reports and the new, the experience of every lawyer and judge is, I think, to the effect that the new are the most useful because the most needed."

The current supreme court decisions of all the states are published in two editions. In each state the local reports are published as a local series under the auspices of the state. This is commonly known as the "official edition." The current decisions of each state are also published in seven Reporters, making up the National Reporter System. In the Reporters the cases are published first in weekly advance. sheets, which are afterwards replaced by bound volumes for permanent use.

In building up a library of reports, three considerations. should be borne in mind: To obtain the books most useful; to buy in such a manner that subsequent purchases will not duplicate the first; and to obtain the books with the smallest expenditure possible. The National Reporter System fulfills all these requirements. The National Reporter System contains the late cases, and it is far better to buy a set of the

Reporter System, and thus obtain the later decisions of the whole country back to a given point, than to buy the entire reports of any one state, the early volumes of which contain little that has not been affirmed in the later reports, or that is not obsolete or so well settled as to be indisputable. The one exception to this rule is in favor of the decisions of one's own state. The set a lawyer first buys is generally that containing the supreme court decisions of his own state, and, as he wishes to increase his library, he can add other reports as he is prepared to do so. If he wishes the reports of any state in full, he can buy the early volumes to the date when their publication commences in the Reporter System at a material saving over the cost of an entire set. The difference in cost between buying the official reports and obtaining the same cases in the Reporter System is well illustrated in the Northeastern Reporter. The Northeastern Reporter, vols. 1 to 62, contains all the opinions in the following official reports: vols. 139-183, incl., 45 volumes. vols. 99-177, incl.,

Mass.,
N. Y.,

79 volumes.

Ill.,

vols. 114-204, incl.,

91 volumes.

The price of the

43-69, incl., 27 volumes.

331

Northeastern Reporter, vols. I to 68, and Blue Book, is $175. This price is a special one, only made recently. The regular price at which the set was formerly sold was $242. The buyer of the Northeastern now is therefore purchasing books at a price equivalent to 52 cents per volume for State Reports. Subscription editions of reports, two volumes in one, at the rate of $1 per original volume, have occasionally been placed on the market and regarded as great bargains, but the Reporters are even cheaper than this. Those who have bought continuations of the reports of the states included in the Northeastern Reporter since the latter began publication have paid the following prices:

These prices are those at which the books are sold outside the state. On some of the sets a lower price is made to attorneys within the state. But compare this price with the price of the Northeastern Reporter, which covers everything in these volumes of state reports. One could have bought not only the Northeastern Reporter, but more than half the decisions of all the other courts of the United States during the same period, for that money, if he had bought the Reporters instead of the State Reports.

Since entering upon their work, the state courts of last resort of the United States have filed opinions which have made about 4,450 volumes of the official reports. About 1,850 of these are covered by the Reporter System, and about 2,600 were published prior thereto. On account, however, of the fact that the early volumes of all State Reports are smaller than those now published, and that the briefs of counsel were formerly very fully reported, whereas now they are either omitted entirely or very much condensed, the 1,850 volumes of State Reports covered by the Reporter System contain fully one-half of the total number of the decisions. The price of complete sets of the seven State Reporters to this time is now only $1,225.50. This is a special figure, which has only recently been made. The regular price at which we formerly sold them was $1,621.50. Fully one-half of the supreme court reports of all the states can be bought, there

fore, for $1,225.50, or at the rate of sixty-six cents per original volume of the State Reports. This, moreover, is the later and therefore the more necessary half. Could the 2,600 volumes be bought at the same rate, the entire case law of the United States would be within the reach of all prosperous lawyers. This cannot now be done, but there is a downward tendency in the price of all reports. Quite a number can be bought for $2 per volume and some for less. Every few years some hitherto expensive set is reprinted, and there is reason to think that the cost of the 2,600 volumes prior to the Reporter System will grow steadily less. The low prices established by the National Reporter System have done more than anything else towards reducing the prices of the official series.

For further information along this line, send for our circular "A Lawyer's Choice of Reports."

DIGESTS OF REPORTS.

Few lawyers beginning practice are able to buy all the reports they need. It is no less necessary, however, to consult them constantly. This must be done largely through digests. There is now issuing a digest of the entire case law of the United States, known as the Century Edition of the American Digest. Through this digest a lawyer can ascertain, without leaving his office, if there is a case in any volume of American Reports bearing on the one he has in hand. The advantage of having the entire case law of the United States indexed in one set of books is very evident. For instance, the scheme of classification in the local digests of State Reports is the same in hardly any two. If a lawyer commences his investigations by examining decisions in the Massachusetts Reports, he has to spend some time in learning the classification. used in the digest of that set. If he then turns to a digest of New York Reports, he finds the method of arrangement different, and more time must be spent in learning the classifica

tion of that digest. With every other digest that he takes up, he has to repeat the same experience. On the other hand, having once learned the classification scheme of the Century Digest, he can examine the authorities in as many states as he chooses without the annoyance of having to turn from one scheme of classification to another, as is necessary in using state digests. Another advantage is in the method of covering late decisions. The Century Digest comes down to 1896, and is suplemented by current continuations under the same classification scheme, covering the later cases as fast as published. There is no system of issuing supplements to the different state digests, and it is practically impossible to get at the late decisions of any state excepting through these current volumes of the American Digest.

In large towns where law libraries are found, a lawyer with the Century Digest has on his shelves a digest of every American decision in every library, and the preliminary work of ascertaining where an authority can be found on any proposition of law can be done without leaving his office. In towns in which there are no law libraries, but in which there are many reports scattered through many law offices, a lawyer with the Century Digest has a digest of the law library of every other member of the bar, and can learn through the Century Digest, without leaving his office, whether or not there are any cases in any of the books in his brother lawyers' offices which bear on the one which he is investigating. If he has no access to a public library, or to the reports in private libraries, he can obtain from the publishers a copy of any decision cited from the Reporter System for 25 cents, and typewritten copies of decisions prior to the Reporter System at a small cost. Thus, until he can have in his office the reports he needs, the Century Digest is the greatest aid to using those to which he has access elsewhere. Furthermore, the digest paragraphs are in themselves so full and clear that reference to the reports will often be found unnecessary. The Digest is a condensation or synopsis of the Reports.