telligent, should have existed so long without any systematic plan for preserving in regularly published volumes of reports the many important cases decided by it. What a light would now be shining over these twenty years of darkness; what an amount of laborious inquiry would be avoided, had the opinions of the court settling these matters as they arose been taken down stenographically and the cases reported and published. Had this been done, we would possess to-day at least twenty volumes of reports instead of only three; and even these three would not be in existence save for the industry of one of the justices of the court in a labor which it is the duty of the bar to relieve the bench of. This ought never to have been so, much less ought it to continue. The law, as declared by the court, should be certain and it can only be certain when preserved in black and white. If the court has no means of turning to its prior decisions for guidance it is like a ship which sails without rudder or compass. It moves with doubt, with difficulty, with perplexity, and its labors as well as those of the bar are immeasurably increased. It was in the recognition of this fact that I saw, when a few years ago I came to practice at this bar, the opportunity to pay, as far as I could ever expect to pay it, an instalment of that debt which it is said every lawyer owes to his profession. The first volume of these reports is the result; but lest anyone may give the writer more than his due, let me say that but for the liberality of the publishers of the Washington Law Reporter in furnishing me at their expense with a shorthand writer, and also but for the encouragement and assistance afforded me in many ways by the justices of the court, especially in revising the stenographic notes of such of their opinions as were delivered orally, the preparation of these reports would have been an impossibility. I am also largely indebted for aid in various ways to many of my brethren of the bar. Many difficulties had at first to be overcome in obtaining the longer oral opinions which were sometimes upon most important questions of law. Failures in some instances could not at first be avoided, but I may safely say that the second volume of these reports, the material for which I have now almost ready, will contain a report of every important case decided by the court during the period covered by that volume. With one or two exceptions, which were unavoidable, the cases here reported are given in the order of their dates. Such of the opinions as were not delivered in writing are from carefully revised stenographic notes. Hence their accuracy may be relied on. In conclusion I wish to say that the work I have undertaken has no pecuniary reward, while the time which I am compelled to devote to it is often more than I can conveniently spare from other duties. The labor it involves I do not count, for it is one of love, and doubly so if, as I hope, it is appreciated. FRANKLIN H. MACKEY. WASHINGTON, April 16, 1883. |