Excerpt from Handbook on the Law of Judicial Precedents, or the Science of Case Law Nearly a quarter of a century ago, the late Mr. Justice Miller, of the Supreme Court of the United States, in a public address on the use and value of authorities in the argument and decision of cases, expressed his surprise that no book had yet been written, or none that he had seen, distinctively devoted to the subject on which he was speaking, adding, perhaps by way of explanation of the fact, that the sources of such a work are not ample and are difficult to come at. If a systematic and comprehensive treatise on the law of judicial precedents was a desideratum at that time, it is much more so to - day. For the reported decisions have enormously multiplied, and the lawyer's problem now is not merely to find the law, but to weigh and estimate the value of what he discovers. Now, more than ever, he needs a guide through the lawless science of the law, the count less myriad of precedents. Moreover the rules which gov ern the subject, - ii rules they can be called, which rest only in judicial discretion and have no stronger sanction than judicial habit, - are intricate and not free from confusion, and have long been in need of clear and discriminating ex position. Also it is true that the very theory of the prece dent has been vigorously assailed of late in high quarters, and there are evidences of an insistent demand for greater flexibility in the interpretation of the law and a closer cor respondence between the rulings of the courts and what is supposed to be the spirit of the age or the wants and wishes of the people. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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Excerpt from Handbook of the Law of Evidence At the request of the publishers, the author has endeavored to find time for a re-examination of the subject of Evidence, and a revision of his treatment of it as found in the first edition of this work prepared in 1897. The principles do not change materially in a decade, but added experience and a different point of view may in some instances result in a more satisfactory statement of them. The changes in this second edition are not many, although there have been re-arrangement and additions in most of the chapters and some, notably the chapter on Judicial Notice, which has been re-written, and the chapters on Burden of Proof, Presumptions, Admissions and Writings, which have been enlarged, present the respective subjects of which they treat in somewhat different form from the corresponding chapters of the first edition. The aim has been to avoid a compilation of cases, and while many thousands, decided since 1897, have been examined, comparatively few have been added as citations. The purpose of the work is now, as it was in the former edition, to give a statement of principles with illustrations of their application, and some discussion of the manner of their development; the work will, therefore, serve better one who seeks light upon the law of Evidence viewed as a science than one who seeks a precedent for some particular case. The author, therefore, again disclaims any attempt to present the law of all the States or of any one of them, and has cited cases from the different jurisdictions indiscriminately, locking only to their value as illustrations of the application of those principles which seem to him to be at the foundation of an intelligent understanding of the law of Evidence. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Law of Judicial Precedent is the first hornbook-style treatise on the doctrine of precedent in more than a century. It is the product of 13 distinguished coauthors, 12 of whom are appellate judges whose professional work requires them to deal with precedents daily. Together with their editor and coauthor, Bryan A. Garner, the judges have thoroughly researched and explored the many intricacies of the doctrine as it guides the work of American lawyers and judges. The treatise is organized into nine major topics, comprising 93 blackletter sections that elucidate all the major doctrines relating to how past decisions guide future ones in our common-law system. The authors' goal was to make the book theoretically sound, historically illuminating, and relentlessly practical. The breadth and depth of research involved in producing the book will be immediately apparent to anyone who browses its pages and glances over the footnotes: it would have been all but impossible for any single author to canvass the literature so comprehensively and then distill the concepts so cohesively into a single authoritative volume. More than 2,500 illustrative cases discussed or cited in the text illuminate the points covered in each section and demonstrate the law's development over several centuries. The cases are explained in a clear, commonsense way, making the book accessible to anyone seeking to understand the role of precedents in American law. Never before have so many eminent coauthors produced a single lawbook without signed sections, but instead writing with a single voice. Whether you are a judge, a lawyer, a law student, or even a nonlawyer curious about how our legal system works, you're sure to find enlightening, helpful, and sometimes surprising insights into our system of justice.