Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 1.djvu/4

iv And the same Influential journal continues its criticism in the following forcible and well-considered tenns: "It is true that volumes of reports have been published, usually by one of the circuit or district judges, and it is also true that an occasional opinion has been given to the public by the law periodicals. But there has been no organized or authorized system of reporting in these courts; many of the cases have not been reported at once, and none of them have been reported with sufficient promptness. If it is of prime importance to seeure the prompt and accurate publication of statutes in ordar that the legal profession and the people may know the laws, it would seem to be hardly less important to apply the same rule to judicial decisions, for these as well as the statutes go to make up the law, and neither clients nor their lawyers ean always flnd out what the law is unless the judicial interpretations of the law are made accessible in public print."

"The plan," says the distinguished circuit judge of the first circuit, "is an admirable one, and the will be absolutely indispensable toall practitioners in the courts of the United States, and highly useful to all other lawyers."

"It seems to me," says another learned member of the federal judiciary, "that the value of such a publication can hardly be overestimated, and, if all the judges are willing to give a generous assistance, it will have a strong tendency to produce a much to be desired uniformity of decisions in the varions circuits and districts of the United States."

It is not necessary, however, at this time, or in this place, to quote further from the language of bench or bar in confirmation of the advantages and utility of this enterprise. The best recommendation is to be found in the work itself, and the most encouraging reception it has received during tiie short term of its existence.

The publishers, therefore, confidently submit this new enterprise to the favorable ccmsideralàon of the members of a busy and arduous profession, who cannot well afford to neglect any meaas that may serve to decrease their labors, and bring precedents to the aid of principles in the solution of legal problems.