Printed reports let each state craft and borrow its own common law

Evidence

The ultimate influence of the reports can hardly be measured. They enabled the states to craft their own common law, as different from the common law of England, and the other states, as their judges wished, or as conditions dictated. At the same time, printed reports made it possible for states to borrow more freely from each other. Big states and famous judges carried more weight and were cited more frequently than small states and small judges. New York’s reports had high prestige, especially the opinions of Chancellor Kent. Lemuel Shaw in Massachusetts was another great name. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 1937

Categorization

• XREF: This prestige hierarchy of big-state reporters parallels the later claim in ch.37 about how legal innovation traveled; connects to standard-law-reasoning themes of persuasive versus binding precedent.