The "American Reports" is a continuation of the American Decisions, and comprises cases selected from the state reports publish ed during the years 1869 to 1887. There are 60 volumes of this series.
The "American State Reports" is a contin uation of the American Reports, and publish es cases selected from the- state reports is sued between 1887 and 1911. This • series terminated with volume 140, issued ht 1911.
The three series above named are some times styled "The Trinity." They do not cov er any decisions of the inferior federal courts nor of the United States supreme court.
The "American and English Annotated Cases" began in 1906, and purports to con tain the "Important Cases Selected from the Current American, Canadian and English Re ports." Beginning with the twenty second volume of this series, it was merged with the American State Reports. Although publish ed jointly, and identical in contents, the books are issued under separate designations by the two publishers. The series succeeding the American State Reports is published under the title "American Annotated Cases" (cited "Ann. Cas.") and designated by year and number, i. e., 1912A, 1912B, etc. The pub lishers of the original series, however, retain the title originally adopted, together with the numerical sequence, and add an extra label at the bottom of each volume, giving the corresponding designation of the Amer ican Annotated Cases. Thus, vol. 22 Amer ican and English Annotated Cases is also la beled "Ann. Cas. 1912A." Up to the year 1865, the English reports are entitled by the name of the reporter and commonly cited by abbreviation of the re porter's name. The year 1865 marked the
organization of the Council of Law Report ing and the establishment of the "Law Re ports," a system which has been in operation ever since.
As first established, the Law Reports corn prised•a separate series for each of the courts, including the House of Lords and the Privy Council Appeal Cases. In 1875 the series was consolidated into six series, namely, the Ap peal Cases, Chancery Division, Common Pleas Division, Exchequer Division, Probate Divi sion, and Queen's Bench Division. Commenc ing with 1881, cases in the Common Pleas and Exchequer Division are reported in the Queen's Bench Division, so that, at present, there are four series, namely, Appeal Cases, Chancery, King's Bench, and Probate.
The Law Reports are cited by the court or division. Up to 1875, the mode of citation was, for example: Goodwin v. Robarts, L. R. 10 Exch. 337, indicating that this case was found in the Law Reports, vol. 10, of the Ex chequer Reports. After 1875, when the first consolidation took place, cases were cited merely by the division, for example: Perry v. Barnett, 15 Q. B. D. 388, indicating that this case was found in Law Reports, vol. 15, of the Queen's Bench Division. In 1891, a new style of citation was adopted, the year being added to the citation. For• example: Sanderson v. Collins, [1904] 1 K. B. 628, in dicating that this case is to be found in the Law Reports, vol. 1, of the King's Bench Di vision for the year 1904.