Commentaries on the Laws of England: A Facsimile of the First Edition of 1765-1769, Vol. 1 - Softcover

Blackstone, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226055388 ISBN 13: 9780226055381

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1979

Synopsis

Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765-1769) stands as the first great effort to reduce the English common law to a unified and rational system. Blackstone demonstrated that the English law as a system of justice was comparable to Roman law and the civil law of the Continent. Clearly and elegantly written, the work achieved immediate renown and exerted a powerful influence on legal education in England and in America which was to last into the late nineteenth century. The book is regarded not only as a legal classic but as a literary masterpiece.

Previously available only in an expensive hardcover set, Commentaries on the Laws of England is published here in four separate volumes, each one affordably priced in a paperback edition. These works are facsimiles of the eighteenth-century first edition and are undistorted by later interpolations. Each volume deals with a particular field of law and carries with it an introduction by a leading contemporary scholar.

In his introduction to this first volume, Of the Rights of Persons, Stanley N. Katz presents a brief history of Blackstone's academic and legal career and his purposes in writing the Commentaries. Katz discusses Blackstone's treatment of the structure of the English legal system, his attempts to justify it as the best form of government, and some of the problems he encountered in doing so.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

It was the dominant lawbook in England and America in the century after its publication and played a unique role in the development of the fledgling American legal system.

About the Author:

Stanley N. Katz is professor of legal history at Princeton University. He has written widely on English and American legal history of the eighteenth century.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1979
• ISBN 10: 0226055388
• ISBN 13: 9780226055381
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 496