A  report  of  a  case  must  be  distinguished  from  the  record  or  official
history  of  it  which  is  kept  by  the  clerk  of  the  court  and  remains  in  the
archives  of  the  court.  The  report  should  contain  only  so  much  of  the  aub-
tance  of  the  record  as  is  necessary  to  show  the  exact  point  decided,  and  tho
decision  itself  The  opinion  of  the  judge,  if  there  is  one,  is  usually  added,
although  that  is  not  a  part  of  the   decision   or   of  the   record.     Reports

are  either  official  or  private.  Any  one  is  at  liberty  to  publish  a  book
of  reports,  and  a  private  report  is  as  good  as  an  official  one,  because,
the  courts  being  always  assumed  to  know  the  law,  the  object  of  referring
to  a  report  is  simply  in  theory  to  refresh  the  judge^s  memory.  The  official
reports  extent  are  as  follows.
English.  The  **  Year  Books "  were  published  by  tho  prothonotariea  or
chief  clerks  of  the  higher  courts,  one  volume  annually  with  a  few  omissions,
from  the  time  of  Edward  II  to  that  of  Henry  VIII.  They  are  in  Norman-
French,  as  are  some  others  of  the  old  reports.  The  *'  Law  Reports  ".  have  been
published  since  1865  by  the  Incorporated  Council  of  Law  Reporting,  and
are  divided  into  a  number  of  separate  series  named  after  the  dlHerent  courts,
or  since  the  Judicature  Act  of  1873,  after  the  divisions  of  the  High  Court  of
Justice.
