laws and institutions.

The multiplication of American reports makes judicial precedents
of decreasing value to the American lawyer. English cases are
cited as authority far less frequently than they were before the
middle of the nineteenth century. The omnipotence of Parliament
and the free hand with which that has been exerted to change the
common law have tended to separate English from American
jurisprudence. Our written Constitutions have perpetuated here
ideas of government and property which England does not
recognize. Hence American precedents are of more use than
English. But American precedents are becoming so numerous that
the advocate who seeks to avail himself of them is tempted to
cite too many and to examine them with too little care. In each
State its own reports are the expression of its ultimate law.
With these every member of its bar must be familiar. But the
courts before which he argues listen to him with more
satisfaction and greater benefit if he deals with the principles
of law rather than with foreign precedents which may or may not
correctly apply them.[Footnote: See a valuable statistical
article on "Reports and Citations" in _Law Notes_ for
August, 1904.]

Not every opinion which is delivered is officially reported. In
most States the court has and exercises the power of directing
that such as they may deem of no substantial value to the
profession at large shall not be. Many are simply applications
of familiar rules which obviously control. Opinions of that kind
interest only the lawyers in the cause. In the unofficial
reports, however, such cases are sure to appear and the bar is