Court Reports

Court reports (also called “reports”) are published collections of histories of legal cases, with the arguments used by counsel and the reasons given for the decision of the court. They are volumes of printed (or online) opinions of magistrates, judges or justices.

Case report may be official or unofficial, authoritatives or not. Most unofficial reports are authoritatives, and they are cited as source.

Case reports are among the most important sources of legal authority in the Common law system. Most reports of judicial decisions are based in the resolution of disputes on appeals, being trial court decisions rarely published.They have not precedential effects.

The number of reports has increased exponencially. According to the Wolters Kluwer Bouvier Law Dictionary, conservatively reports would require “storage of 100.000 volumes, not counting digests and citators”. Now, court reports are published generally electrolically.

Court Reports in England

At the begining of the XIX century, the reports of Chief Justice Coke were especially styled “The Reports”, and were in general cited without the author’s name, as “Rep.”

Court Reports in the United States

In the American colonies, juges and lawyers relied on English precedents, as no decisions of American courts where published until the Kirby’s Reports, in Connecticut, in 1789. Court reports from other states soon follow.

See Also

  • Catalogue of Court Reports
  • Judicial Opinions
  • Headnotes
  • Nominative Reports (also called “Named Reports”)
  • Reporters of Decisions
  • United States Reports
  • The United States Law Week (U.S.L.W)

Source. Salvador Trinxet Llorca

Conclusion

Notes

References and Further Reading

About the Author/s and Reviewer/s

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Annotations, Cataloging for legal materials, Catalogue of Court Reports, Common law, Constitutional Text: Austria 1945, Amendments 1986,1987,1988,1990, 1992 and 1993, Digests and American Law Reports, Foreign law resources, French Law Court Reports, French Legal System, History of Year Books, International copyright3, KIA-KIK North America LC Classification, Legal Citation, Lexis’ Case Search, List of Australian Reports, List of Canadian Reports, List of English Reports, List of Indian Reports, List of International periodicals, List of Tax Law e-Journals, List of U.S. Federal Court Reports, List of United Kingdom Court Reports, List of family law legal publications in english, Low cost internet US legal research, Modern Legal Systems Cyclopedia, National Reporter System, Oxford Reports on International Law, Selective Publication of Cases, U.S. Digests, U.S. States Court Reports.

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