Predicting What the Law Court Will do in Fact

Over eighty years ago Oliver Wendell Holmes announced what became the manifesto of the legal realists when he stated: "The prophecies of what the courts will do in fact, and nothing more pretentious, are what I mean by the law." Legal philosophers and professors of jurisprudence may justifiably quarrel with Holmes' definition of law, but that definition continues to be useful to the practicing attorney engaged in the everyday business of counseling clients and advising them concerning the legality of anticipated activities. It is useful also to the trial court judge, bound by the decisions of an appellate court, who, if he is to be faithful to his obligation, will decide cases before him in accordance with his educated prophecy as to what the appellate court will do when presented with the precise issue which is before him. Perceived in this light a survey of the work of the highest appellate court of a state, such as is here presented by the editors of Maine Law Review, brings together in one place a concise collection of data which should enable the practicing lawyer more accurately to prophesy what the courts of that state "will do in fact." Thus, this issue of Maine Law Review not only represents a tribute to the breadth of learning and the magnitude of work of our highest court, but can function as well as a guide to what we may anticipate in the future.