Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

“ Every citizen is presumed to know the law thus declared, and it needs no argument to show that justice requires that all should have free access to the opinions, and that it is against sound public policy to prevent this, or to suppress and keep from the earliest knowledge of the public the statutes, or the decisions and opinions of the justices. ”

“ Judicial Decisions—Opinions of Justices—Rights of the Public.
The public has the right of free access to the opinions of the Justices of the supreme judicial court after they are delivered to the reporter of decisions. ”

“ Paul, Minnesota, and the Lawyers’ Co-operative Publishing Company, of New York, and other foreign publishers, have availed themselves of the liberty thus granted the petitioner to publish the decisions of the court in the form of Reports, for sale to the profession, in competition with the authorized series of Reports, and to the injury of said Little, Brown & Co., and to the prejudice of the rights secured them by said contract and statute ”