George Caines (1771 – July 10, 1825) was the first official reporter of cases in the United States, appointed by the

Court of Appeals of New York The New York Court of Appeals is the supreme court, highest court in the Judiciary of New York (state), Unified Court System of the New York (state), State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge of the New Yor ...

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 for

case citation Case citation is a system used by legal professionals to identify past court case decisions, either in series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a neutral style that identifies a decision regardless of where it is reported. Case ci ...

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 by William 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

804 __NOTOC__ Year 804 (Roman numerals, DCCCIV) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Abbasid Caliphate * Battle of Krasos: Emperor Nikephoros I refuses to pay th ...

. In 1819, Caines was among the founding members of the Missionary and Bible Society of the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

. He died while en route home, in

Catskill, New York Catskill is a town in the southeastern section of Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 11,298 at the 2020 census, the largest town in the county. The western part of the town is in the Catskill Park. The town contains a v ...

, and is buried in the Thompson Street Cemetery there.

External links

Biography of George Caines from the New York court system
from ''The Catchline, Bulletin of the Association of Reporters of Judicial Decisions'' 1771 births 1825 deaths New York (state) lawyers Methodists from New York (state) Burials in New York (state) {{US-law-bio-stub

See also

External links