Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 8.djvu/83

REVIEWS. 67 The Federal Cases. Comprising cases argued and determined in the Circuit and District Courts of the United States, 1 789-1880. Book I., Aalesund-Arthur ; Cases 1-564 inclusive. St. Paul : West Pub- lishing Co. 1894. Royal 8vo, sheep, pp. xlvii., 1224. Tables of Cases, i. Numerical Table [showing where any case cited may be found in advance of its pul)lication in the Federal Cases]. 2. Table of Citations [giving the reference to the Federal Cases for any case cited from the reports which these cases are intended to supercede]. St. Paul: West Publishing Co. 1894. Royal 8vo., paper, pp. vii , 365. This, as the first volume, contains complete tables of the circuits under different statutes, of judges, and of reports and reporters, which are very valuable, and not to be found elsewhere. The case law of the United States Circuit and District Courts prior to the date of the establishment of the Federal Reporter is at present no- where to be found in a state fit for ready use, and the exigencies of such reporting as has been done have confined both reports and their use to the several districts and circuits, or to the publications of particular branches of the law, such as bankruptcy and patent rights. And, as a result of this, the Circuit and District judges and the practitioners in their several courts have not had the great benefit which should come from a knowledge of what is going on within co-ordinate jurisdictions. The Federal Reporter has done away with difficulties for the future, and the Federal Cases now seek to put the past in a form really accessible and ready for reference. In this, to judge from the part of the work so far published, the success has been most gratifying ; the deficiencies of the publishers have been avoided, and all their merits have told heavily. Thorough preparation, successful search for new cases not reported in ordinary form, and care- ful and well-considered arrangement of the matter originally reported by such men as Story and Blatchford, have all contributed to a work which will surely be popular and often be necessary. r. w. h.