Abstract
The reports of Virginia cases from 1784 to 1794 compiled by Charles Lee and those of John Brown, which cover the period 1791 to 1799 in the Virginia Court of Appeals, are published for the first time here. Many of the cases in Lee's Reports and some in Brown's Reports have not been reported elsewhere, and the others supplement the rather brief case reports made by Bushrod Washington and Daniel Call. During the period of these reports, the judges of the court of appeals usually gave their opinions immediately after the attorneys had concluded their arguments; in the other cases their opinions were delivered orally in open court within several days. The lawyers while in court took notes of the cases for their own personal future reference. These hastily written notes were later redrafted and expanded. Different reporters would report different details and even different points of law. This was especially true of Brown's Reports, which add procedural details to the reports made by Washington.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1977
Recommended Citation
W. Hamilton Bryson, The Reports of Charles Lee and John Brown, 11 U. Rich. L. Rev. 691 (1977).