Page:Repository of Arts, Series 1, Volume 01, 1809, January-June.djvu/35

Rh which the light parts are a very accurate representation: those parts which are shaded, represent the hair of queen Mary, which forms a dark ground for the workmanship: the black ribbon, by which if is fastened to the king’s arm, passes through two small loops at the back of the ring, the gold of which is almost worn through: the workmanship is very good, not to say elegant, for the period in which it was done. It has been many years in the possession of the ancestors of Thomas Street, Esq. of Hampstead, to whom it has descended, and who can trace it pretty satisfactorily thro’ his family connections up to Roujat, who was sergeant-surgeon to William III.

will be unnecessary to say much upon the utility of reporting important judicial decisions, or the necessity of strict accuracy in the history of judicial proceedings. The courts of justice which administer law in particular cases, are bound to state the principles and construction upon which those decisions may be founded, which are to govern analogous cases in future. The almost infinite modifications of which property is susceptible, and the multiplied combinations which arise out of these in a commercial country, are beyond the reach of positive laws, because they are beyond the powers of human foresight. The wisdom of our constitution has therefore very properly left to the experience of our judges, the task, of deducing from its general propositions such corollaries as come within the range of its intent and meaning: these deductions, in time, become part of the law itself. Notwithstanding its importance, the care of collecting these decisions, and the principles by which they were governed, has been rather accidental than established. The records of the courts are indisputable evidence of the judgments, and at a remote period the reasons of the judgment were set forth in the record, but this practice has been long discontinued. According to modern usage, the most important points of law are brought before the courts in the shape of motions for new trials, or cases reserved. In these cases, which form so considerable a part of the law of England, we depend entirely upon the fidelity and accuracy of reporters, as well for the facts as the arguments and reasoning of the counsel and the court.

The Year Books are the earliest reports we have, altho’ the names of the reporters themselves, or the precise nature of their office, cannot now be ascertained. This office has