Law Reporting: Comparisons Between Western Europe and Common Law Countries

Abstract

Georg Leistner's short monograph on the publication of appellate judicial decisions in Western Europe undoubtedly deserves more attention than it seems to have received in the fifteen months or so since its appearance in late 1975. In a careful and methodical way it describes the publication process of appellate decisions in ten major Western European countries, the percentage of decisions selected for publication, and the major selection criteria prevailing in the respective countries. In this sense, Leistner's work achieves the status of a highly useful reference source on law reporting in Western Europe and fills in the void left open by the various legal bibliographies of Western Europe on the one hand and description of their judicial systems on the other (e. g., Council of Europe. Judicial Organization in Europe. London: Morgan-Grampian Ltd., 1975) which, as a rule, do not address themselves to these questions. Furthermore, as the topic of law reporting has hitherto been more or less neglected in Europe, Leistner may rightly be considered a pioneer in this area, and his work enjoys the qualities of original research extending beyond mere descriptive reporting. In any event, there is just too much valuable information in this work to allow it to fade into obscurity.