Federal Cases? That is just what I am coming to. In 1880 the Federal Reporter was established, and from that time the reporting of the decisions of the United States Circuit Courts by circuit. became a dead letter. All the decisions of the United States Circuit Courts and the United States District Courts since 1880, and the United States Circuit Courts of Appeals from the organization of those Courts in 1891, are reported in the Federal Reporter, and most of them nowhere else. The different series of separate Circuit Court Reports could not be expected to compete with the same and more matter, together with all the decisions of the United States District Courts in one set of books, selling at an extremely low price.

After the Federal Reporter became thoroughly established with the profession there came a call for a complete and continuous series of the lower Federal Court decisions from the very beginning to 1880-the time of the Federal Reporter. This demand was met by the publication of one of the most finished and satisfactory legal reports ever printed-the Federal Cases, which consists of thirty large volumes and a one-volume Digest. It is an annotated reprint of all the decisions of the United States Circuit and District Courts from the earliest times to 1880, where it connects with the Federal Reporter. As all the cases are arranged alphabetically by title, it is a simple matter in this set of books to find a decision, in whatever form it may be cited.

When the United States Circuit Courts of Appeals were organized, in addition to reporting their decisions in the Federal Reporter, a separate series of reports was commenced for the exclusive reporting of these cases. The series was called the Circuit Courts of

Appeals Reports. This set of books, which contains many excellent notes, is still being published.

Yes, yes! that's the idea exactly. All that it is necessary to-day for a lawyer to remember in regard to reporting the decisions of the United States District Courts, the United States Circuit Courts, and the United States Circuit Courts of Appeals is that they are reported in two series of books-the Federal Cases, covering the decisions from the earliest times down to 1880, and the Federal Reporter, covering all the decisions of these Courts from 1880 to the present time. The Circuit Courts of Appeal Reports simply duplicate in a separate series the decisions of the Circuit Courts of Appeals, which are published in the Federal Reporter.

How about the various reports of the decisions of the United States Supreme Court, you ask?

Well, in the first place, these decisions go back to the year 1790, and from that date to 1874 there were 90 volumes published. It is the custom to cite these volumes by the name of the particular court reporter under whose direction the books were issued. During that period of eighty-four years there were seven persons who acted in the capacity of United States Court Reporter, and the names of these men have hence become very familiar to the American lawyer.

Mr. Dallas was the first of these reporters, and four volumes of the Supreme Court Reports were published during his service in office. Then followed Cranch, with nine volumes, Wheaton with twelve volumes, Peters with sixteen volumes, Howard with twenty-four volumes, Black with two volumes, and Wallace with twenty-three volumes.

The reports of Mr. Wallace are the last to be cited by the name of the court reporter, and from 1875 the volumes of the United States Supreme Court Reports are designated by number, beginning with volume 91 and continuing 92, 93, etc., to the last volume issued to date. These reports are known as the "Official" series.

Why called "Official"?

Well, partly because they are subsidized by the government, and partly for the purpose of distinguishing them from the reports of the same cases published by private enterprise. There are several "Unofficial" editions of the United States Supreme Court Reports. One of these series is known as Curtis' United States Supreme Court Decisions, covering the cases reported in 2 Dallas to 17 Howard in 22 books.

Another "Unofficial" series, known as the Lawyers' Edition of the United States Reports, is published in "books," several volumes in a book. The series begins with 1 Dallas and continues to date.

The United States Supreme Court Reporter is also an "Unofficial" series, and is part of the National Reporter System. It begins with volume 106 of the United States Reports and continues to date, one volume being published each year. In this series, the decisions are first published in the form of advance sheets during the term of court; that is, from October to May. Then the bound volume is published, containing a full report of the cases decided during

the year.

You say there are so many different kinds of law publications that you get them all mixed up. I suppose you do. It is quite a complicated affair. Here let me give you a short outline in this connection that will be useful as a guide.

There are two distinct classes of law publications in this country: First, those publications which are of primary authority, such as federal and state constitutions, treaties made between the United States Government and foreign powers, ordinances, government orders. and regulations, and, last, but by no means least, the reports of judicial decisions. Second, those books that are published for the purpose of ascertaining and determining the law-books which should not be depended upon as conclusive in their statement of the law, for the reason that they are not authoritative, but which are valuable as indexes to and as abridgments of the reports. This class of publications, which may be designated as books of secondary authority, consists mainly of digests, encyclopedias, and text-books.

You will find it very useful when you engage in practice to have a familiar acquaintance with all the various kinds of law books and series of law books that fall under these different headings; for example, if you have a case that turns upon the provision of some particular treaty made between the United States Government and some foreign power, you should know just where to go to look for a published copy of the treaty in question, or, if you have the title of a case decided in the court of last resort in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Kentucky, or Texas, or in some other state where the "official" reports do not contain all of the cases decided, and you find that the decision you want is not reported in the "official" series of reports, it would prove very beneficial to you to know where to go to find a report of that case.

There are so many matters of importance to the practicing lawyer regarding legal bibliography that it is as essential a student should learn about law books

and their use as it is to learn the principle of this or that legal doctrine, which may be soon forgotton, or to be able to tell all about that old and time-worn "rule in Shelley's Case."

I am sorry that it is impossible at this time to go over other matters you should know about law publications and what you should know about the very important subject of investigating authorities.

Before you go, however, let me tell you about a friend of mine-a lawyerwho was in the office yesterday looking up the law on a case he had. It seemed his client, a farmer over in Kent county, owned a tract of land on which there was a deposit of valuable clay soil, and that a man named Wilson, without the consent or knowledge of the farmer, took about 300 wagon loads of the clay and manufactured it into bricks. The farmer, as soon as he discovered the fact, laid claim to the bricks and placed the case in the hands of my friend, with instructions not to sue for damages, but to get possession of the bricks.

Although this is a simple legal proposition, the average lawyer, unless he has been properly educated along the line of investigating authorities and is familiar with the classification upon which the leading digest and law encyclopedia publications of the country. have been based, is liable to do considerable guessing and to waste a great deal of time before he finds proper reference to the decisions on the principles of law involved.

Well, although my friend enjoys the reputation of being a good lawyer, he is evidently a little short on practical information as to the proper way to look up the law, for he floundered about from title to title in text-books, in encyclopedias, and in the digests of collections of

selected cases for about forty minutes without landing against anything that would help him. When I went to him he was nearly "all in" and ready to call for help. He had tried "Replevin," "Conversion," "Trover and Conversion," "Trespass," and finally "Detinue" without result. I told him to look under the title "Accession" in the Century Digest, or in the volumes of the American Digest, or the General Digest, or the Cyclopedia of Law and Procedure. Well, of course, he found reference to the decisions he was after under that heading just where these cases should be classified; but, as he had never made a study of law classification, it was a game of "hide and seek" with him, with the odds against his finding the proper information within a reasonable time, if at all.

Why, there are some main headings in the uniform classification of the law which has been adopted by the leading law publishers in their digests and encyclopedias that the average student does not even know the meaning of. For instance, let me ask you what principles of law are involved in the decisions that are digested and placed under the main heading "Novation"? You say you don't know? How about "Sequestration"? "Ne Exeat"? "Supersedeas"? "Miscegenation"? "Lis Pendens"? You say you can't tell the meaning of any of them? Well, well! I hardly thought it was quite that bad. There have been hundreds and hundreds of cases decided by the courts on these subjects, and yet you do not even know their meaning. Why, you are not ready to practice law, and should your law school give you a diploma, you ought not to be allowed to hold yourself out to the public as a practitioner until you at least know how to find the law that you don't know. You say it is not your fault? Well, I

don't suppose it is, but when you are in practice that fact wont help you much.

You had better go to a school where you will be taught the practical end of the business, for I regret to say it seems to be coming more of a business and less and less of a profession every day. I could tell you of many cases that have been lost simply because authorities could not be found and cited to support the theory advanced. You may be sure the judges won't take the time and trouble to investigate the cases themselves, unless you call their attention to them by direct citations; nor will they accept your statements as to what the law is, or what it is not, unless your contentions are supported by proper reference to the decisions.

Now, I did not intend to give you a

lecture on this subject (that is the work your professors in the law school are paid for), but I want you to appreciate the necessity of mastering this important part of a lawyer's education, and, if you are in a law school where the faculty is not sufficiently well posted to teach. the subject of law classification and the way to use law books, you will dig into the matter yourself and do the best you can without their guidance. You may find the subject quite as difficult as "Pleading," or that part of "Real Property" relating to Equitable Estates, but far more interesting and even more practical.

Good-bye. Let me hear from you in case your instructors can do nothing for you along this line, and I will show you how to go about it for yourself.