George Caines

Background

George Caines was born in 1771. No details of his parentage or the place or exact date of his birth have survived.

Career

He was practising as a counsellor-at-law in New York City when in 1802 he published anonymously the first volume of An Enquiry into the Law Merchant of the United States; or, Lex Mercatoria Americana on Several Heads of Commercial Importance. Marvin says that other volumes of this work were intended but the indifferent reception accorded to it induced Caines to abandon his project. Up to this time all legal reports in the United States had been private ventures with no official sanction, but in 1804 the New York legislature provided for the appointment by the state supreme court of a reporter of its decisions and Caines received the appointment, being thus the first official reporter on this continent. In this capacity he issued New York Term Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of that State, in three volumes covering the period May 1803-Nov. 1805 (1804 - 06), of which a second edition appeared with corrections and additions in 1813-14. These reports were distinguished by brevity and accuracy, and for long enjoyed a high reputation with both bench and bar, but subsequent statutory amendments have deprived them of much of their utility. At the same time he was engaged upon a compilation of Cases Argued and Determined in the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors in the State of New York, two volumes (1805 - 07), commonly cited as Caines' Cases in Error. This work, embracing cases from the court of errors from 1801 to 1805 inclusive and supreme court cases from 1796, contains much important matter, displays much ability, and is esteemed authoritative. Caines also edited a second edition (1808) of William Coleman's Reports of Cases of Practice Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature of the State of New York 1794 to 1800, adding cases up to November 1805, which is generally cited as Coleman and Caines' Cases, a later edition appearing in 1883. He was in addition the author of a practical manual, Summary of the Practice in the Supreme Court of the State of New York (1808) and Practical Forms of the Supreme Court [of New York] Taken from Tidd's Appendix (1808). He retained the position of official reporter for less than three years and after the publication of the two last mentioned works, devoted himself to his practise in New York City, ultimately achieving a prominent position at the New York bar. In 1816 he was counsel for the plaintiff in a suit for assault and battery under unique circumstances, his client complaining that when a passenger on the British ship Thomas he had, on the high seas off the Newfoundland Banks, been subjected against his will to ignominious treatment at the hands of Father Neptune and his acolytes impersonated by members of the crew. The trial took place in the Marine Court of New York City and the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for $46. 00. Caines retired from practise in 1825 and shortly afterward died suddenly at Catskill, New York, when on his way to take up his residence at Windham.

Achievements

• He was the first official reporter of cases in the United States, appointed by the Court of Appeals of New York in accordance with legislation enacted by that state in April, 1804.

Works

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  • New York Term Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of That State. 1803-1805, Volume 1

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Cases Argued and Determined in the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors, in the State of New-York. 1796-1805, Volumes 1-2

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • An enquiry into the law merchant of the United States, or, Lex mercatoria americana: on several heads of commercial importance : dedicated by ... of the United States : in two volumes.

    ( The Making of the Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800-192...)

  • book

Personality

At the same time he was engaged upon a compilation of Cases Argued and Determined in the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors in the State of New York, two volumes (1805 - 07), commonly cited as Caines' Cases in Error.