CHAP III.] DIRECTIONS FOB REPORTING JUDGMENTS. 361 



persons. A due use of all these affords a great and ready 

 assistance in clearing the laws oi their obscurity. 



Eeports of judgments. 



LXXIII. And above all, let the judgments of the supreme 

 and principal courts be diligently and iaithially recorded, 

 especially in weighty causes, and particularly such as are 

 doubtful, or attended with difficulty or novelty. For judg 

 ments are the anchors of the laws, as laws are the anchor.! 

 of states. 



LXXIV. And let this be the method of taking them 

 down: 1. Write the case precisely, and the judgments ex 

 actly, at length; 2. Add the reasons alleged by the judges 

 for their judgment ; 3. Mix not the authority of cases, 

 brought by way of example, with the principal case ; 4. And 

 for the pleadings, unless they contain anything very extraor 

 dinary, omit them. 



LXXV. Let those who take down these judgments be 

 of the most learned counsel in the law, and have a liberal 

 stipend allowed them by the public. But let not the judges 

 meddle in these reports, lest, favouring their own opinions 

 too much, or relying upon their own authority, they exceed 

 the bounds of a recorder. 



LXXVI. Let these judgments be digested in the order of 

 time, and not in method and titles ; for such writings are a 

 kind of histories or narratives of the laws ; and not only the 

 acts themselves, but also their times, afford light to a prudent 

 judge. 



Authentic writers. 



LXXYII. Let a body of law be wholly compiled, 1. of 

 the laws that constitute the common law ; 2. of the statutes ; 

 and, 3. of the judgments on record : and besides these, let 

 nothing be deemed authentic, or else be sparingly received. 



LXXVIII. Nothing conduces more to the certainty of 

 laws, whereof we now speak, than that the authentic writings 

 should be kept within moderate bounds ; and that vast mul 

 titude of authors and learned men in the law excluded, 

 which otherwise rend the mind of the laws, distract the 

 iudge, make lawsuits endless : and the lawyer himself, find 

 ing it impossible to peruse and digest so many books, henc 

 takes up with compendiums. Perhaps some good g! &amp;gt;ssary, 9 



