The Canadian Law Times, 1896, Vol. 16 (Classic Reprint)

Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Canadian Law Times, 1896, Vol. 16 It is evident that the value of the Reports depends upon their authenticity The more famous cases were reported only by permission under the authority of the Court. These official reports must therefore be critically examined before they are accepted. This work was thoroughly done by the earlier editors, and any reader can acquaint himself with the relative authenticity of the reports. It is somewhat of a surprise to any person who takes up these volumes to see that they contain verbatim re ports. In this matter, as in so many others, there is nothing new under the sun. Shorthand reporting is a very ancient art, although we are apt to think it dates only from Pitman. It was well known to the Romans, as every student of Roman history is aware. During the middle ages the art was lost. In England, the revival dates from John Willis, whose Stenographie pawed through thirteen editions between 1602 and 1644. His system was alphabetic, that is, each word had its own symbol. Between him and Pitman there were two hundred systems invented. Of these, only seven were phonetic. All the others were, like Willis', alphabetic But, such as they were, they were used extensively, and thus we are able to read the ipsissima verba used by all the noted persons whom trial inter ests us subsequent to the death of Queen Elizabeth. 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.