Definitions and Duties

The Reporter of Decisions is a constitutional officer of the Arkansas Supreme Court. Article 7, section 7, of the Arkansas Constitution of 1874 provides, in part: "The Supreme Court shall appoint its clerk and reporter, who shall hold their offices for six years subject to removal for good cause." The Supreme Court Reporter also serves as Reporter of the Arkansas Court of Appeals. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-12-108(b) (Repl. 1994).

albert pike
Albert Pike

Seventeen Reporters have served the Court since 1836. The first was Albert Pike (1836-1844), the colorful soldier, scholar, poet, Freemason, and duellist who left his rather eccentric stamp on the early history of the state. (An exhaustive biography, A Life of Albert Pike by Walter Lee Brown, was published by the University of Arkansas Press in 1997.)

Three Reporters, Elbert H. English (1845-53), William W. Mansfield (1887-91), and Conley F. Byrd (1954-60), later became Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court. Recent Reporters have included Ruth Dexter Vines, Clyde Dickens Calliotte, William B. Jones, Jr., Marlo Bush Krueger, and Kristin A. Cordell.

At present, the office is held by Susan P. Williams. Statutory provision was made by Act 803 of 1981, Ark. Code Ann. §16-11-204 (Repl. 1994), for a Deputy Reporter, and Amy Dunn Johnson currently holds that position. Both Ms. Williams and Ms. Johnson are attorneys.
Elbert English
Elbert English

It is the statutory duty of the Reporter of Decisions to:

  1. Prepare the syllabus without delay after the Clerk of the Supreme Court furnishes him with a copy of the decisions of the court;
  2. Prefix notes to each decision containing the points decided therein;
  3. Make out and have published with each volume a complete index thereto; and
  4. Cause to be prefixed to each volume a title page, together with an alphabetical list of all the cases reported therein.

Ark. Code Ann. § 16-11-202 (Repl. 1994). The Reporter also superintends the printing and binding of the Arkansas Reports. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-11-205 (Repl. 1994). The length of the official reports is set by statute at "about twelve hundred (1200) pages." Ark. Code Ann. § 25-18-218 (Repl. 1992). Four or five volumes appear each year. In 1995 the Arkansas Supreme Court issued a total of 352 signed majority opinions (per curiam opinions are not included in this figure), and the Arkansas Court of Appeals published 133 opinions.

In practical terms, the Reporter of Decisions serves as the Courts' legal editor, working closely with the Justices and Judges of the Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, the Courts' contract printer, and the various vendors that receive and republish electronically transmitted material. Neither the Courts' opinions nor the Reporter's headnotes are copyrighted. Under the Reporter's direction, the contract printer's editorial staff prepares the Headnote Index, which is also in the public domain.

Each Wednesday and Thursday during regular court sessions, the Reporter's office receives electronic and hard copies of the published Court of Appeals and Supreme Court decisions and processes them for dissemination. To establish the order of appearance in the advance sheets and the official reports, the Reporter groups the cases sequentially according to seniority (Supreme Court) or designated position (Court of Appeals) and arranges them alphabetically within each subset. The Reporter and Assistant Reporter then proofread the opinions, note suggested changes, and write headnotes, which are submitted to the Justices and Judges for approval.

H.G. Wells once observed that "No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else's draft." Bearing this unfortunate universal propensity in mind, the Reporter's office edits conservatively, allowing for stylistic differences among the opinion writers. Still, an effort is made to achieve something approaching a house style in usage and citation format. Among the principal guides relied upon by the Reporter's office are The Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed. 1993); The Bluebook (18th ed. 1991); Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage (2nd ed. 1995); Strunk & White, The Elements of Style (3rd ed. 1979); see also William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style (1918); the Reporter's own Procedure and Style Handbook (rev. ed. 1995); and the Reporter's supplemental House Style Guide (rev. 2008).

Former Reporter William B. Jones, Jr. cooperated with the Supreme Court Library in establishing Internet access to Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals cases. He also inaugurated an electronic style and usage service for Court personnel and added "Errata" pages in the hardbound reports to record corrections for earlier volumes. In Vol. 324 of the Arkansas Reports and Vol. 53 of the Arkansas Appellate Reports, Mr. Jones introduced the first significant design change in the official publication since 1890. Twin pinstripes, which first appeared as front- and back-matter ornaments in Vol. 321/50, divide the running head from the headnotes and opinions. The text is set in Bembo, a modern revival of a typeface created for the pioneering Venetian printer Aldus Manutius (1449-1515) by Francesco Griffo (fl. late 15th c.), who is credited with setting the pattern for the principal roman faces and cutting the earliest italic type. The name derives from the font's first appearance in De Aetna (1495) by Pietro Cardinal Bembo (1470-1547), a leading literary figure of the Italian Renaissance.

Volumes of the official Arkansas Reports and Arkansas Appellate Reports are available through the Administrative Office of the Courts, Justice Building, 625 Marshall Street, Little Rock, AR 72201. Memoranda of corrections should be sent to Susan P. Williams, Reporter of Decisions, Justice Building, 625 Marshall Street, Little Rock, AR 72201. The Reporter's office also welcomes notice of errors in earlier volumes of the Arkansas Reports.