Commentaries on the Laws of England Vol.2

by William Blackstone

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.

Introducing this second volume, Of the Rights of Things , A. W. Brian Simpson discusses the history of Blackstone's theory of various aspects of property rights—real property, feudalism, estates, titles, personal property, and contracts—and the work of his predecessors.

Genres: Law, Politics, Classics, Reference, History

544 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1766

About the author

Sir William Blackstone was an English jurist, judge, and Tory politician. He served as the first Vinerian Professor of Common Law at the University of Oxford from 1758 until 1766. His series of lectures on English law, the first of their kind in any university, have endured since their publication as a definitive reference on the principles of Common Law. The first American edition was produced in 1772; prior to this, over 1,000 copies had already been sold in the Thirteen Colonies, and it was greatly influential among the Framers of the Constitution. Event today, Blackstone's Commentaries are cited in U.S. Supreme Court decisions 10-12 times a year. His plan for a dedicated School of Law, included in the Commentaries upon its rejection by Oxford, provided the foundation of the modern system of American law schools. A 9-foot statue of Blackstone stands on Constitution Avenue in Washington D.C.

Reviews

[Aaron Crofut · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few interesting notes on how feudal society created their legal understanding of real property, but overall not as interesting or useful as the first volume.