COLUMBIA CONTENTS: PAGE The Times will be issued monthly during the Collegiate year only. Terms: $2.50 per year, New York: BANKS & BROTHERS, 144 Nassau St. New York: BAKER, VOORHIS & Co., 66 Nassau St. New York: L. K. STROUSE & Co., 95 Nassau St. Chicago: T. H. FLOOD & Co., 149 Monroe St. Copyright, 1890, by Columbia Law Times Publishing Co. Entered at New York Post Office as Second-class matter. COLUMBIA LAW TIMES. VOL. IV. OCTOBER, 1890. No. 1. METHOD OF PREPARING A CASE FOR ARGUMENT. The first thing to be done is to master the leading principles applying to the case. One would usually read text books for that purpose, and he might resort to these also to obtain lists of cases which are generally to be found in the notes: it is also requisite to consult Law Digests. The English Digests may be divided into Old and New. The best of the Old Digests are Bacon's Abridgement, Comyns's Digest, Viner's Abridgement. Viner's work is very extensive but not so well arranged nor of such high authority as the other two. Comyns's is particularly esteemed, and a citation from it has nearly the same weight as a case. The New Digests, until recently, were classified according to the court, so that there would be one for the common law court, another for equity, and a third for admiralty. Harrison's and Fisher's Digests contain the cases of the common law course; Chitty's Digest those in equity; Pritchard's those in admiralty. There is also another digest containing all the cases from 1854 to 1857 which is called "English Law & Equity Digest." Since 1866 a digest has been published of cases in all the courts, known as "The Digests of the Law Reports." Fisher's Digest is of great value. Of this there is an American reprint called "Jacob's Fisher's Digest." There is also a valuable digest by John Mews, with assistants, extending from 1756 to 1888 with continuations, now in seven volumes. In addition to the strict matter appropriate to a digest there will be found in some of these series volumes containing mere tables of cases, the object of which is to enable the one who knows the name of a case to find volume and page where it was reported. These latter are of great convenience to lawyers. "Chitty's Equity Digest," in nine volumes, brings down the equity decisions to the year 1889. In this country there are digests of State decisions: thus, in New York, we have Abbott's, Clinton's and Brightley's. Abbott's is the most carefully prepared. In addition to the State Digest there is a work called the U. S. Digest which, con tains the cases decided in all the State Courts as well as those of the U. S., and this, in addition to a digest of the law of one's own State, is the one most commonly found in a lawyer's office. The United States Digest, after 1888, was discontinued and the American Digest (annual) was published for the first time in 1889, and is to be continued. A digest, as the name implies, contains a collection, or abstract, of the decisions methodically arranged under appropriate legal topics. A digest should only be used as a mode of consulting reports and should never be implicitly relied on, as the only safe course is to read the case digested and use the digest as a means of finding it. After the authorities have been collected the next thing to be considered is their weight and value. It is important to understand the value of the English decisions as they are a source of the law, and American authority in a great measure rests upon them. The principal courts of England are : a b Equity. c Admiralty. There were, until recently, three common law courts of original jurisdiction. a King's Bench, Queen's Bench, the decisions of which are cited as K. B. or Q. B. b Court of Common Pleas, cited as C. P. or C. B., the latter standing for Common Bench. c. Exchequer, cited as Ex. Each of these courts consisted of five Judges who were called collectively Common Law Judges to distinguish them from those of the other courts. Many cases could come before any one of these courts at the election of the plaintiff, although each had exclusive control of certain other try a cause in connection with a jury, in cases. Any one of these judges could which case he is said to sit at Nisi Prius. Decisions of this kind have not the same force as those rendered by a full court. There are however many of these reported in England. The principal Nisi Prius Reporters are Peake, Espinasse, Campbell and Carrington, with various partners, and Foster and Finlason. The little credit due this class of reporters is referred to in 5 Taunt, 195. Espinasse in particular is full of bad and overruled cases. The judges also sat together to form a full court, and were then said to sit in banc. Until 1866, the reports were in a very unsatisfactory condition: then there were regular reporters appointed in each court who published decisions. Decisions were also published in four law periodicals, viz: "Law Journal," "Solicitor's Journal," "London Law Times," and "Jurist." The leading regular reporters for the fifty years preceeding 1866, will now be referred to. In the Queen's Bench, Barnwall, Adolphus, Ellis and Best. Each from time to time was associated with other reporters. In the Common Pleas, Scott's reports have a great reputation. In the Exchequer, the leading names are Meeson, Crompton and Welsby and Hurlstone with, various partners. In 1866, an association called "Council of Law Reporting" commenced the publication of a series of reports called the "Law Reports." The court next above these Common Law Courts was, until recently, called the Ex. Chamber. It had cognizance of appeals from each of the three lower courts, and was somewhat peculiarly organized. It always |