In this section: ICLR's
History | Reporting Criteria | Members
& Staff | ICLR Special Issue
The
History of The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England & Wales
While
Sir James Burrow may be the father of the modern headnote, the father of The Law
Reports was certainly W.T.S. Daniel Q.C. His History and Origin of The Law Reports
shows the efforts that were made in the last century to cure the ills that had
arisen in the system of law reporting and produce a more suitable one.
In 1863 Daniel proposed a Council of Law Reporting to act gratuitously and be
responsible for the appointment of editors and reporters and to undertake the
management and direction of the printing and sale of the reports. Editors and
reporters would be expected to devote their whole time to the discharge of their
duties and salaries should be sufficient to secure the services of men duly qualified
by learning and experience. Daniel's scheme was approved in substance and the
first meeting of the Council was held on 25 February 1865.
In 1865 the
reporters began their work in Westminster Hall, the home of the superior Courts,
in Lincoln's Inn Old Hall and the Rolls in Chancery Lane. The present Royal Court
of Justice was not opened until 1883. The first volumes of the Law Reports appeared
in 1866 by which time there were over 400 subscribers at 5 guineas a year. In
1870 the Council was incorporated under the Companies Act with the object of...
"The
preparation and publication, in a convenient form, at a moderate price, and under
gratuitous professional control, of reports of judicial decisions of the superior
and appellate courts in England."
While The
Law Reports were to be run as a private enterprise without state aid or interference
it was not intended to be profit making except in so far as it was necessary to
make it self-supporting. In fact in 1970 the Council was registered as a Charity.
The Council now consists of members
nominated by each of the 4 Inns of Court, The Law Society and by the General Council of the Bar.
The two law officers and the President of The Law Society are ex officio members.
An executive committee sits once or twice a year and the full council meets only
once a year. |
>>The ICLR have appointed a new Editor
TOP
CRITERIA
FOR LAW REPORTING
W.T.S. Daniel QC who proposed the Council of
Law Reporting in 1863 attached to the outline of his scheme a paper by Nathaniel
Lindley, who subsequently became Master of the Rolls in 1897 and then sat as a
Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in the House of Lords. That paper set out what was
required for a good law report. He started by saying that care should be taken
to exclude from the reports those cases which passed without discussion and which
were valueless as precedents and those which were substantially repetitions of
what was reported already.
On the other hand, he said care should be taken
to include:
| All cases which introduce, or appear to introduce,
a new principle or a new rule.
All cases which materially modify an existing
principle or rule.
All cases which settle, or materially tend to settle, a
question upon which the law is doubtful.
All cases which for any reason are
peculiarly instructive. | He then said that
reports should be accurate, contain everything material and useful and be as concise
as was consistent with those objectives. In particular they should show the parties,
the nature of the pleadings, the essential facts, the points contended for by
counsel and the grounds on which the judgment was based as well as the judgment,
decree, or order actuallly pronounced. These guidelines are still followed today.
Taken from a lecture given by Miss Carol Ellis
QC CBE former Editor of The Law Reports
»»
Further details of The ICLR Today; its Members and Staff
>>Continuing the story of ICLR's background as told by Paul Magrath in the Introduction to the ICLR Special Issue |
