Authorities

Enactments and opinions relied upon as establishing or declar- The opinion of a court, or of counsel, or of a text writer upon any question, Is usually fortified by a citation of authorities.

Enactments and opinions relied upon as establishing or declaring the rule of law which is to be applied in any case. The opinion of a court, or of counsel, or of a textwriter upon any question, Is usually fortified by a citation of authorities. In respect to their general relative weight, authorities are entitled to precedence In the order In which they are here treated. The authority of the constitution and of the statutes and municipal ordinances are paramount; and if there is any conflict among these, the constitution controls, and courts declare a statute or ordinance which conflicts with the former to be so far forth of no authority. See Constitutional Law. The decisions of courts of justice upon similar cases are the authorities to which most frequent resort is to be had; and although in theory these are subordinate to the first class, in practice they do continually explain, enlarge, or limit the provisions of enactments, and thus in effect largely modify them. The word authorities is frequently Law 19; Chamberlain, Start D Precedents. As to American di - anthoril English courts, see Pa • rs. The opinions of legal writers. Of the number of treatises and comm itai we have, comparatively few i authorities. A very large numl. reality but little more than if the adjudged cases arranged in tree and find their chief utility as maim reference. Hence it has been remarked thai when we find an opinion in a text-writer up on any particular point, we must Consider It not merely as the opinion of the author, but as the Bupposed result of the authorities to which he refers; and if on examination of those authorities they are found not to establish it, his opinion is disregarded; 3 B. & P. 301. Where, however, the writer declares his own opinion as founded upon principle, the learning and ability of the writer, together with the extent to which the reasons he assigns commend themselves to the reader, determine the weight of his opinion. A distinction has been made between writers who have and who have not held judicial station; Ram, Judgments 93. But this, though it may be borne in mind in estimating the Learning and ability of an author, is not a just test of his authority. Bee •"• (II, 241. Early text-books have a footl their own and are considered authorities. Pollock, First Book 230. '-In England and America, not only is there no line between the careers of judges and advocates. Inn there is no line between the judges and advocates and the jurists. Indeed, a large portion of those text-writers who could be properly cited as authority have either filled high judicial positions, or have been actively engaged in some branch of practice Omitting the names of living writers, we have, in England, Bracton, Littleton, Coke, Hale, Doderidge, Gilbert, Foster, Blackstone, Fearne, llargrave, Butler, Preston. Wigram, Abbott, Sugden. Stephen, Byles, Williams, Blackburn. Benjamin; and in the United states, Kent, story, Redfield, Washburn, Rawle [Covenants for Title].'' John C. Gray (Nature and Sources of Law 255). 1' Crown Law (1762) is said to be the latest book to which authority in i can be ascribed. Pollock. Firs! Book of Jurispr. 246. Five books are said to stand out pre-eminently in the history of English law

— Glanvil, Bracton, Littleton, Cok< Blackstone. "J Holdsw. Hist. E. L. !M. "It is to my mind much t< and it is a regret which I believe every judge on the bench shares, that text-books are more and more Quoted in court — I mean, of course, text-books by living authors — and some judges have gone so far as to say that they shall not be quoted." Kekewich, J., in in the absence of cases, weight is given to text-books of recognized authority; IS C. 15. N. S. 90, 107 (Erie, C. J.); and to the settled practice of conveyancers; 2 Brod. & Bing. 473, 000, per Eldon, L. C, in the House of Ixjrds; Turn. & R. 81, 87, when the same judge puts his decision on that ground, saying, that "after the abuse which I have heard at the bar of the House of Lords and elsewhere upon that subject, I am not sorry to have this opportunity of stating my opinion that great weight should be given to that practice." The practice of conveyancers was considered by Jessel, M. C, worthy of consideration though not decisive; 10 Ch. D. 211, 223. As to the value and effect of the opinions of the Attorney-Generals of the United.States, see In re District Attorney of United States, 2 Cadwalader's Cases 138, Fed. Cas. No. 3,924, 7 Am. L. Reg. (N. S.) 801, per Cadwalader, J. Uevens, Atty.-Gen., in 10 Op. 522, referred to this opinion as being that of a subordinate judge, and therefore less weighty than those of the Attorney-Generals. See Executive Poweb. The opinions of writers on moral science, and the codes and laws of ancient and foreign nations, are resorted to in the absence of more immediate authority, by way of ascertaining those principles which have commended themselves to legislators and philosophers in all ages. See Code. Lord Coke's saying that common opinion is good authority in law, Co. Litt 186 a, is not understood as referring to a mere speculative opinion in the community as to what the law upon a particular subject is; but to an opinion which has been frequently acted upon, and for a great length of time, by those whose duty it is to administer the law, and upon which course of action important individual rights have been acquired or depend; Bank of Utica v. Mersereau, 3 Barb. Ch. (N. Y.) 528, 577, 49 Am. Dec. 189. As to the mode of citing authorities, see Citation of Authorities. See Judge-Made Law; Law.

practice. By this word is understood the citations which are made of laws, acts of the legislature, and decided cases, and opinions of elementary writers.

In its more confined sense, this word means, cases decided upon solemn argument whick are said to be authorities for similar judgments in like cases. 1 Lilly’s Reg. 219. These latter are sometimes called precedents, (q. v.) Merlin, Répertoire, mot Autorités.