courts of the several states, and the reports of common-law courts of England, together with the law reports of the different divisions of the Supreme Court of Judicature. Even these are very numerous, so that it may be said that a law library which seeks practical efficiency must find a place for at least 7,000 volumes of these reports.

The one million and one-half or more of cases reported in the 15,000 law reports would be of comparatively little value were it not for the commendable industry of law editors in digesting its cases and classifying them under more or less arbitrary headings alphabetically arranged.

As the number of reported cases has increased, so has the size and number of volumes of our digests. A digest of all the reported cases decided in state and federal courts down to, and including, the year 1896, is contained in 50 large. royal octavo volumes of at least 1,500 pages each. This formidable instrument is now being supplemented by a digest of all cases decided during the years 1896 to 1906, inclusive, to be comprised in not more than 25 volumes. This di gest and supplement is a comprehensive publication covering the whole field of American law reports. Besides this, each state has its own digests of law cases, and every series of reports containing especially collected cases is supplemented at intervals by digests.

Law treatises, as now written, are expositions of the law as found in statutes and reported cases. The modern law writer does not often state his individual opinion as to what the law is or should be, and, if he should, the lawyer who read. would be inquisitive as to the authority upon which the statement was based. Kent, Story, and Greenleaf are frequently cited as authorities equally as weighty as reported opinions of eminent judges;

but they wrote after long service in judicial positions, at a time when reported cases were comparatively few. They declared the law as adjudicated and as they thought it should be, and did it so well that courts have often based their opinions upon what they said, thus giving their statements the mark of judicial approval. There are a few others who might be mentioned in the same class. But few of our modern law treatises are written with a view of declaring the law independent of statutory or judicial authority. Their only purpose is to point the way to the statute or decision with a bearing upon the chosen subject. It is not intended to belittle their importance or value. They are substantial aids in tracing the cases which establish the principle desired to be asserted or applied.

The cyclopedic treatment of law is a comparatively new development in the realm of legal literature. This is an exceedingly ambitious effort to classify the whole body of the law under appropriate heads arranged alphabetically. The several subjects considered are more or less carefully analyzed with the co-relative principles grouped and stated concisely without editorial elaboration; the notes cite the cases upon which the statements of the text are based. The result produced is a legal work occupying the field between that of the treatise and the digest. Such a work, if accurately done, if at once full, precise, and correct, will be of the greatest value. While not in any sense superseding special treatises upon different branches of the law, or digests of law reports, it will, by facilitating, save labor. As stated aptly by the late James C. Carter of the New York City bar, in describing the possibilities of such an undertaking:

"It would refresh the failing memory, reproduce in the mind its forgotten acquisitions, exhibit the body of the law

so as to enable a view to be had of the whole, and of the relations of the several parts, and tend to establish and make familiar a uniform nomenclature."

There are other kindred publications which must be acquired by the up-to-date law librarian, such as tables of cases cited, affirmed, and overruled, law periodicals, trials, cases and briefs, all of which will be found useful to the seeker after legal knowledge.

Statutes, reports, digests, law treatises, tables of cases and cyclopedias, are the books which comprise the law library; how best to make them available, and to promote such a use of them that the purposes for which they were created may be attained, is properly the law librarian's object in official life. To whatever class his library may belong, the use of the books committed to his charge must logically be of the first importance. His duties will require knowledge of book values and a keenness in acquiring rare and much sought for books. He should have a comprehensive knowledge of the literature of the law. Knack of arrangement and classification, and experience in the art of book binding, will prove valuable. But all these qualifications are subordinate to that of ability to direct the proper use of the books confided to his care. The law librarian should be a capable guide to the user of his library; a well-trained expert in the learned science of how to find the law.

It cannot be denied that the accomplishment here desired is one difficult of attainment. It will not be expected that the librarian should know all his books and everything that is in them. Sir Edward Coke, and lawyers equally industrious, who lived long after his time, are said to have literally mastered the law of England by the simple but exhaustive process of reading every line then written upon the subject. But in the time of

Lord Bacon all English law was contained in sixty volumes of law reports and as many more of statutes. The magnitude of the task of a literal reading of the law has long since passed human possibility. As stated by Judge Dillon: "Our judiciary law, which embraces that of England, now runs back through the several centuries to the reign of Edward II, without revision or authentic restatement. It is scattered through volumes so numerous that the memory is taxed to its utmost to remember even their names, that only the rich can buy them, and that the practicable industry and strength of no human being can examine, much less study and digest them." Am. Bar Ass'n Rep. 1886, p. 261. But the law librarian, surrounded as he is from day to day by the volumes in his library, should know more about them and their uses and purposes than the casual patron or even the studious lawyer.

The lawyer of to-day is a case lawyer; he knows his facts, and seeks to apply thereto the law as declared by some court of competent jurisdiction. It is not difficult to understand why this is so. Courts are influenced by precedents; they are controlled by the judicial decisions of their own or of a superior jurisdiction; they will frequently follow those which have no binding force if they are uniform and the reasoning of the judges appears sound. So the lawyer anxious to secure a favorable determination of the controversy begins his hunt for a case which, when found, will be conclusive upon the tribunal which he seeks to convince. If he avails himself of the law library which is maintained by and for him in common with others, he may rightfully expect the librarian in charge not only to have on his shelves the reports which he wishes to consult, but also the necessary guides to those reports, and that he himself be equipped with a practical knowledge of

all those devices which have been supplied to relieve the difficulties of the search.

The great magnitude of our written law gives force to the common statement that the best lawyer is he who best knows how to find the law. But this aphorism should not be taken without modification. Indeed, it seems more applicable to the modern law librarian. As applied to lawyers, it may more truthfully be said. that the greatest lawyer is not he who knows the most law, but he who sees at a glance the real question involved, and also sees the true principle applicable to it. The lawyer must, therefore, first of all, know the principle which he depends upon for a successful determination of the controverted question, and then must show the application of such principle by well-established precedents having a bearing upon the question involved. "The law does not consist of particular cases, but of general principles which are illustrated and explained by those cases." Lord Mansfield in Rex v. Bembridge, 3 Doug. (Eng.) 327, 332. Though we search for precedents to discover and illustrate principles, the law depends at last upon principles and not upon the precedent.

It follows, therefore, that the lawyer availing himself of our immense collections of law reports should be grounded in legal principles, and should seek his judicial precedent to ascertain whether or not a stated principle will bear upon the matter in hand. The law librarian's familiarity with his books must necessarily prove a value to him who searches either for principle or precedent. While perhaps it should not be insisted that he have the grasp of legal principles possessed by the well-trained lawyer, he nevertheless should know how those principles are best classified, and where best to find. cases illustrating their application. His

superior knowledge of law books and how to use them should supplement the knowledge of his lawyer patron who comes to him loaded with legal principles seeking cases which are in point.

Although principles and not precedents are of first importance, nevertheless it is the case which is sought for. However the case may be used, whether as declaratory of the principle or as a controlling precedent with analogous facts, the thing to do is to find the case. This is what the lawyer wants, because the court is usually convinced by what has been done and said before. In making the search for the hidden case every available law tool is brought into use. Law treatises, digests, cyclopedias, and tables of cited cases are to be consulted. These are for the most part the means to the end that the much sought for case may be found. All of these implements and devices must be thoroughly familiar to the law librarian. He must have carefully studied them with a view of directing their use to those who need to refer to them. The ingenious methods devised by editors and compilers, to aid in attaining the object for which the books are made, must be mastered by him, so that he may avail himself of their use and bring them to the attention of the case seeker, so that he too may derive full benefit therefrom.

The duties here outlined pertain more directly to the practical work of the law librarian in applying his science of finding the law. There are other duties required of him, prescribed by the peculiar characteristics of the library under his charge. In the state law library he may be called upon for special information upon legislative, constitutional, and governmental subjects, and will be expected to have knowledge of the law applicable to the duties, official functions, and powers of state departments, offices, and institutions. He is to serve the Legislature,

state departments, and offices, and must be equipped to aid them in their search for the law which determines their official powers and duties. The state law library is frequently a legislative reference or bill-drafting bureau, in which the law librarian and his staff are required to advise members of the Legislature as to the desirability, validity, and effect of proposed legislation, and also to prepare or aid in the preparation of legislative bills.

The law school library and other libraries devoted entirely or partially to the use of law students have their own special problems to solve. It may be assumed that there would be little purpose in a law school acquiring a law library unless the students are to be encouraged in the free and full use of the books therein. The exclusion of students from access to the shelves on the theory that all the cases desirable for study are contained in the books of selected cases which are specially designed for their use seems to be carrying the case system of law instruction beyond the domain of common sense. Knowledge of the use and purpose of law books is without doubt an important part of the training of a law student, particularly so in schools where the student's special attention is directed to case books covering

the several branches of the law. Law librarians who come daily in contact with experienced practitioners are frequently astonished at their ineptitude in using digests, tables of cases cited, and other labor-saving devices especially prepared by book making experts. Lack of knowledge of law classification, inability to comprehend the proper heading under which to look, and ignorance of the scope of the subject under consideration are serious handicaps for the lawyer whose time is money, both to himself and his client. The best time for a lawyer to ac

quire knowledge of the use of law books is during his student days, and the best place to acquire this knowledge is in the law school having as a part of its organization a complete and well-equipped law library.

There can be no doubt of the practicability of instructing the student in the use of the books which must necessarily become so intimately associated with his professional labors. To turn him loose in the maze of statute, judicial, and otherwise written law without scientific training in methods of adapting this immense mass of material is senseless and futile. The very day that he enters the profession he will need the help of digests, tables of cases, annotations of statutes, textbooks, and the law reports themselves, and he should at least know the purposes of each, and how they are best applied to produce the desired result.

The student in the school should therefore be taught by actual demonstration how all these books are to be used. He should learn from competent instructors how to search out what he wants from available material, intelligently, quickly, and accurately. He should also be taught to weigh the value in his search, and be taught to discriminate between that which is in point and that which is not; for it is not so much a question of the number of authoritative cases as it is a question. as to whether such cases are controlling upon the question in hand. He should know instinctively upon the presentation

of a statement of fact or of law under what heading or within the scope of what subject he should find a grouping or treatment of similar cases.

Well-maintained law schools pride themselves upon the completeness and efficiency of their law libraries. They recognize invariably the importance of

the library as a part of the school organization. It must logically follow that the librarian in charge be counted as one of the law faculty. He should know the use and adaptability of law books, not only for the purpose of directing the use of the library, but also for the imparting of special knowledge as to the best way of getting the most good from the books in his charge. He should be able to instruct the beginner as to the character and purposes of the books, and should also be sufficiently familiar with legal principles and the use of cases as authorities to direct the more experienced as to what authorities should be used. It is for him to impress upon the minds of the lawyer in embryo the truth of Dr. Johnson's statement that "knowledge is of two kinds; we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it." The full force of this instruc

tion will soon be felt, and by none sooner than by librarians in charge of other law libraries.

The law school and the law school librarian may accomplish much in expediting the work of the lawyer and the courts by teaching intelligently and systematically the science of how best to find the law. As the number of volumes of court reports and other associated books increases, the importance of the general law librarian as a factor in the administration of the law will be enhanced. There is a field here for the special law worker. The science of how to find the law is a concomitant part of the science of law itself. The law librarian must be an expert in it, to the end that he may instruct the novice and guide the experienced. The day of the law librarian as a mere collector and keeper of law books is now past.

M

UCH of late has been said and

written about legal professional education and the relation of the law school to the bar and public. Widely divergent views have emanated from professors of the science of jurisprudence connected with university schools of law, and, on the other hand, from the daily practitioners of what may be called

*This article was first published in pamphlet form and is reprinted in this magazine by special request.

"the art of advocacy in American courts of justice."

Law as a study has a threefold aspect. It is at once a field for scientific investigation, from which may be quarried generalizations similar to those found in other branches of social science; it is a branch of liberal education too long neglected; and, lastly, it means to some 20,000 or so young men each year the prelude to their appearance upon the stage of professional activity.