The reporter is belabored for inaccuracy, yet he tells us, in the preface to volume second, that he has been at the trouble and expense of comparing his notes with the Register, "and have, in those instances where I thought it was necessary, taken the state of the case from thence, and in some of the nicest material, have given the substance of the decree," which examination is given by Mr. Sanders, the confessedly able editor of these Reports, who says: "The editor must take this opportunity, however, of observing, that he has frequently experienced his researches in the Register's Books anticipated by the previous labours of Mr. Atkyns.
That gentleman, before the publication of his Reports, had certainly compared many of them with the records; and this is evident, not only from his own declaration in the preface to his second volume, but more especially as many of his statements of cases and decrees thereupon are taken, almost verbatim, from the Register's Books."
- and yet this is attributed to the reporter's inaccuracy and want of fulness in his statements of cases, which has been reiterated from the time of Lord Mansfield down to 1846, without one saving clause in the allegations.
It is possible that some of the elder remarks, versus Atkyns, were levelled at him because he did not choose to trouble the judges for their imprimatur, which was usually done by the reporters of his and the preceding time, and which was thought to be a sine qua non in order to give a sort of currency to their labours.
Mr. Atkyns, however, very properly and frankly gives his reason for not so doing - "They (the judges) could not, from their situation, be supposed to examine the manuscript with any accuracy before it was printed; and, therefore, to solicit them to give the sanction of their names to a performance with which they were entirely unaquainted, in my opinion, would have been paying their lordships a very ill complement; and I chose rather, after a complete and candid examination of these reports, they should either rise or fall in the esteem of the public, according to their real and intrinsic merit only."
Chancellor Kent, after speaking of the reporters of Lord Hardwicke's decisions, concludes by saying, "yet the value of his opinions, and the great extent of his learning, and the solidity of his judgement have been sufficiently perceived and understood."
Mr. Lloyd, in his lectures on equity before the Incorporated Law Society, remarks: "But the principal and fullest reports of Lord Hardwicke's decisions, are undoubtedly to be found in Atkyns and Vesey, Sen.
The editor, Mr. Sanders, who certainly had ample means of ascertaining the correctness and fidelity of the Reports under consideration, frankly gives his unequivocal testimony in Atkyns' favor.
"His decisions at this day, and in our own courts, do undoubtedly carry with them a more commanding weight of authority than those of any other judge; and the best editions of the elder Vesey and Atkyns will continue to fix the attention and study of succeeding ages."