At Concurring Opinions, Nate Oman posts about the romance of old law books. (I’ll ride my argument about the significance of “things” as long and as far as I can.) Every Fall, early in the semester, I bring in a volume from the West reporter system to explain basic citation format to my Contracts students. Until you see the book, “123 A.2d 567” makes very little sense. Light bulbs appear over heads, all over the room.