I am researching an article which will analyze what the Arkansas highest
court cited as authority from 1840 to 1940, in ten year intervals. Thus a
"data year" will be 1840, 1850, 1860, etc. One of the types of information
I will track and discuss in the article is the age of opinions cited in each
decision. Studies have shown that a preponderance of cases cited are less
than 20 years old. I want to confirm or dispute this with regard to this
era of decisions. Especially in the early years of the Arkansas Supreme
Court there are a lot of citations to English cases, since they didn't have
much of a volume of their own case law initially. Some of them I can track
down the dates relatively easily, but others are more problematic.
Here is my question: is there a list, table, or a chart, or any readily
available source which would spell out the dates for a nominative reporter's
series of volumes? For example, "Salk." is the abbreviation for "Salkeld's
Kings Bench Reports (91 ER)." I can find most cases reprinted in the All
England Law Reports series, but some of the cases found therein do not have
dates in the ER reprint. Specifically, an 1850 Arkansas case (11 Ark 82, at
87) cites Kemp v. Goodal, 1 Salk. 273. I found the case reprinted at 91
E.R. 242 but without a date. Hence my interest in knowing if there is a
chart somewhere which might provide this information. Volume 1 of Salk was
say, 1816, volume 2 1817 and 1818, volume 3 1819, etc. (I made those dates
up, just illustrating what I'm looking for).
I don't want anyone to do any research. I just would like to know what you
may know about whether a chart, table, etc, exists that might provide dates
or other useful information about the early British nominative reporters.
Thanks for any insight you might provide,
Mike
A. Michael Beaird
Director/Associate Professor
UALR/Pulaski County Law Library
501 324 9975 direct
ambeaird@ualr.edu
http://www.law.ualr.edu/faculty/beaird.html
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