- George Caines
George Caines (born in 1771; died in
Catskill, New York , July 10, 1825), was the first official reporter of cases in the United States, appointed by theCourt of Appeals of New York in accordance with legislation enacted by that state in April, 1804. He occupied the office for one year, producing three volumes of the Reports, containing decisions from May 1803 to November 1805. Under the archaic abbreviation system once used forcase citation s, these reports are officially known as "Caines' Reports", and are abbreviated as "(vol) Cai. R. (page)". Cases from other courts also reported by Caines are in volumes titled "Caines' Cases", abbreviated as "(vol) Cai. Cas. (page)", while his edited versions of cases reported byWilliam Coleman are titled "Coleman & Caines' Cases", abbreviated as "(vol) Cole. & Cai. Cas. (page)".Prior to becoming Reporter, Caines was a
New York City lawyer, published the first volume of "Lex Mercatoria Americana " and prosecuted a noted libel case, "People v. Croswell" (3 Johns. Cas. 337 [1804] ).In 1819, Caines was among the founding members of the Missionary and Bible Society of the
Methodist Episcopal Church . He is buried in the Thompson Street Cemetery in Catskill.ee also
*
Law report External links
* [http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reporter/History/page_24.htm Biography of George Caines from the New York court system]
* [http://arjd.washlaw.edu/catchline_feb_2004.htm 200 Years of Law Reporting in New York] from "The Catchline, Bulletin of the Association of Reporters of Judicial Decisions"
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
