4.4 Virginia Case Law in Print

• Library: A Guide to Legal Research in Virginia (Virginia CLE) (2017 Ed.)

4.4 VIRGINIA CASE LAW IN PRINT

4.401 Decisions of the Supreme Court of Virginia.

A. Virginia Reports. The official publication for Virginia Supreme Court opinions is Virginia Reports. Early Virginia Reports were identified by the name of the individual "reporter" appointed by the court to record and publish decisions (for example, Leigh, Robinson, Grattan) and were published in several formats, in some of which multiple volumes were bound together. In 1911, the Supreme Court renumbered the earlier nominative reports by assigning them volume numbers 1 through 74. A table of correspondence between the named and numbered volumes appears in each reporter after volume 74 under the title "Citation of Virginia Reports."

Each volume of Virginia Reports contains a listing of cases reported, indexed by both the appellant's and the appellee's names. Each volume also has a subject index and a table of constitutional

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provisions, statutes, acts, and rules of court cited. Until 1981 (through volume 221), Virginia Reports also included a summary listing of appeals refused by the Virginia Supreme Court.

The page proofs of a volume of the official Virginia Reports first appear in an "advance sheet" format in multiple paperbound parts. The advance sheets use the same volume and page numbering as the bound volume. They are, however, subject to correction of typographical errors and are not final, since petitions for rehearing might have been filed. The advance sheets contain the same tables and indexes as the hardbound volumes and, in addition, contain useful...