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First and foremost, celebration of major anniversary—as 200 surely is—deserves major congratulations. Congratulations to our forebears for having and nurturing a great idea, and to our colleagues pictured in these pages for bringing that idea so magnificently into the 21st century. It is unimaginable that there could have been law without law reporting, so vital is the recorded word to the very existence, progress and stability of our system of justice.
In New York, we are especially fortunate to have had the tradition of law reporting carried forward with consummate professionalism. We are proud of, and enormously grateful to, our State Reporter and Law Reporting Bureau for their constant creativity and care in the presentation of the courts' work product, assuring accuracy and accessibility for all of us and for the public. Congratulations for having produced this really wonderful report. One of the burdens and responsibilities of having a 200-year history is sharing it, telling it. And this booklet does indeed tell the story splendidly. Through the history of law reporting in New York, we also see the evolution of our home City, Albany, and our nation, as State Reporters organized banks, established businesses, practiced law with great distinction, and served in state and federal government—two as Chief Judges of the Court of Appeals, one State Reporter even with 12 children! I found this tale of two centuries completely absorbing. With congratulations, and thanks, go our good wishes for the next two centuries. In a world filled with uncertainty, of one thing we have no doubt, and that is the continuing superb quality of law reporting in New York.  |
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