REPORT, legislation. A statement made by a committee to a legislative1 assembly, of facts of which they were charged to inquire.
REPORT, practice. A certificate to the court made by a master in chancery, commissioner2 or other person appointed by the court, of the facts or matters to be ascertained3 by him, or of something of which it is his duty to inform the court.
2. If the parties in the case accede4 to the report, find no exceptions are filed, it is in due time confirmed; if exceptions are filed to the report, they will, agreeably to the rules of the court, be heard, and the report will either be confirmed, set aside, or referred. back for the correction of some error. 2 Madd. Ch. 505; Blake's Ch. Pr. 230; Vin. Ab. h. t.
REPORTER. A person employed in making out and publishing the history of cases decided5 by the court.
2. The act of congress of August 26, 1842, sect6., 2, enacts7, that in the supreme8 court of the United States, one reporter shall be appointed by the court with the salary of twelve hundred and fifty dollars; provided that he deliver to the secretary of state for distribution, one hundred and fifty copies of each volume of reports that he shall hereafter prepare and publish, immediately after the publication thereof, which publication shall be made annually9 within four months after the adjournment10 of the court at which the decisions are made.
3. In some of the states the reporters are appointed by authority of law; in others, they are volunteers.
REPORTS. Law books, containing a statement of the facts and law of each case which has been decided by the courts; they are generally the most certain proof of the judicial11 decisions of the courts, and contain the most satisfactory evidence, and the most authoritative12 and precise application of the rules of the common law. Lit. s. 514; Co. Lit. 293 a; 4 Co. Pref.; 1 Bl. Com. 71 Ram13. on Judgm. ch. 13.
2. The number of reports has increased to an inconvenient14 extent, and should they multiply in the same ratio which of late they have done, they will so soon crowd our libraries as to become a serious evil. The indiscriminate re-port of cases of every description is deserving of censure15. Cases where first principles are declared to be the law, are reported with as much care as those where the most abstruse16 questions are decided. But this is not all; sometimes two reporters, with the true spirit of book-making, report the same set of cases, and thereby17 not only unnecessarily increase the lawyer's already encumbered18 library, but create confusion by the discrepancies19 which occasionally appear in the report of the same case.
3. The modern reports are too often very diffuse20 and inaccurate21. They seem too frequently made up for the purpose of profit and sale, much of the matter they contain being either useless or a mere22 repetition, while they are deficient23 in stating what is really important.
4. A report ought to contain, 1. The name of the case. 2. The court in which it originated; and, when it has been taken to another by appeal, certiorari, or writ24 of error, it ought to mention by whom it was so taken, and by what proceeding25. 3. The state of the facts, including the pleadings, as far as requisite26. 4. The true point before the court. 5. The manner in which that point has been determined27, and by whom. 6. The date.
5. The following is believed to be a correct list of the American and English Reports; the former arranged under the heads of the respective states; and the latter in chronological28 order. It is hoped this list will be useful to the student.
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