[2] A 120-page, handwritten tabulation by John Neal in 1826 of all cases in the digest is included with the Jeremy Bentham papers at the University College London.
The method and style of Comyns' Digest, differs considerably from any similar production, being based on a systematic and scientific distribution and subdivision of the titles of the law.
The author first lays down a general proposition, which he supports and illustrates by examples and authorities, and these are branched out and divided into consequential positions illustrated and supported in the same manner, and finally the doctrines are qualified or restrained by exceptions; "all which is done with remarkable clearness and conciseness of expression, and the information desired is seldom long sought after in vain."
It has the honour of being cited and received as an authority in Courts of Justice, which reputation few text books and no other Digest enjoys.
For its exact and methodical analysis, for the succinct, perspicuous, and compressed form in which the Cases are stated, Comyns' Digest stands unrivalled in the annals of the law.
Its extreme condensation of authorities, renders it chiefly valuable as a book of reference to the Reports, and by its wonderful accuracy rarely leads the consulter astray.
The author seems to have particularly exerted himself in elaborating the title Pleader, which is "a more systematic compilation upon Pleading than had previously appeared; comprising the substance not only of the authorities collected in the Doctrina Placitandi, but also of the Cases subsequently decided, and reducing the whole under different heads upon a plan peculiarly scientific and masterly."
Comyns' Digest was originally composed in law French, and the headings of the titles, still retaining this venerable jargon, may give the novice a little trouble in finding the desired object of pursuit.