William Blackstone

On 20 October 1759 Blackstone was confirmed as the first Vinerian Professor of English Law, immediately embarking on another series of lectures and publishing a similarly successful second treatise, titled ''A Discourse on the Study of the Law''. With his growing fame, he successfully returned to the bar and maintained a good practice, also securing election as Tory Member of Parliament for the rotten borough of Hindon on 30 March 1761. In November 1765 he published the first of four volumes of ''Commentaries on the Laws of England'', considered his ''magnum opus''; the completed work earned Blackstone £14,000 (£}} in terms). After repeated failures, he successfully gained appointment to the judiciary as a Justice of the Court of King's Bench on 16 February 1770, leaving to replace Edward Clive as a Justice of the Common Pleas on 25 June. He remained in this position until his death, on 14 February 1780.
Blackstone's four-volume ''Commentaries'' were designed to provide a complete overview of English law and were repeatedly republished in 1770, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1778 and in a posthumous edition in 1783. Reprints of the first edition, intended for practical use rather than antiquary interest, were published until the 1870s in England and Wales, and a working version by Henry John Stephen, first published in 1841, was reprinted until after the Second World War. Legal education in England had stalled; Blackstone's work gave the law "at least a veneer of scholarly respectability". William Searle Holdsworth, one of Blackstone's successors as Vinerian Professor, argued that "If the Commentaries had not been written when they were written, I think it very doubtful that the United States, and other English speaking countries would have so universally adopted the common law." In the United States, the ''Commentaries'' influenced Alexander Hamilton, John Marshall, James Wilson, John Jay, John Adams, James Kent and Abraham Lincoln, and remain frequently cited in Supreme Court decisions. Provided by Wikipedia
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1by Blackstone, William, 1723-1780### CRL customization ### ?> ### Add publisher and desc details ### ?>
Published 1828London : S. Sweet, R. Pheney, A. Maxwell, Stevens and Sons, 1828.1 online resource (2 volumes)LLMC Digital
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Published 1765Oxford : Printed at the Clarendon Press, 1765-1769.4 v. ; 31 cm.Also issued in microfiche.LLMC Digital
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Published 1771[Philadelphia] : America : Printed for the subscribers, by Robert Bell, at the late Union Library, in Third-Street, Philadelphia., MDCCLXXI[-MDCCLXXII]. [1771-1772]1 online resource (4 volumes) : 2 charts.LLMC Digital
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Published 1855Philadelphia : Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1855.1 online resource (2 volumes)LLMC Digital
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5by Blackstone, William, 1723-1780### CRL customization ### ?> ### Add publisher and desc details ### ?>
Published 1879London : John Murray, 1879.xx, 608 p. ; 19 cm.Also issued in microfiche.LLMC Digital
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6by Blackstone, William, 1723-1780### CRL customization ### ?> ### Add publisher and desc details ### ?>
Published 1836New York : W.E. Dean, 1836.1 online resource (2 volumes)LLMC Digital
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Published 1776Paris : Knapen, 1776.1 online resource (xiv, 252 pages, [3] pages)LLMC Digital
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Published 1864Toronto : W.C. Chewett & Co., 1864.1 online resource (viii, 416 pages)LLMC Digital
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Published 1894New York : Banks & Brothers, 1894, ©1890.1 online resource (xx, 1148 pages)LLMC Digital
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10by Blackstone, William, 1723-1780### CRL customization ### ?> ### Add publisher and desc details ### ?>
Published 1892New York : L.K. Strouse, 1892.1 online resource (xv, 808 pages)LLMC Digital
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Published 1794Dublin : Printed for L. White, William Jones and John Rice, 1794.1 online resource (4 volumes)LLMC Digital
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Published 1870London : John Murray, 1870.xx, 647 p. ; 19 cm.Also issued in microfiche.LLMC Digital
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Published 1821London : Dublin : S. Sweet ; R. Milliken, 1821-1822.1 online resource (4 volumes)LLMC Digital
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Published 1790Worcester, Mass. : Isaiah Thomas, 1790.1 online resource (4 volumes) : portrait.LLMC Digital
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Published 1774London : T. Cadell ; and D. Prince, at Oxford, Printed for W. Strahan ; 1774.1 online resource (4 volumes, plates) : portrait.LLMC Digital
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Published 1809London : Printed by A. Strahan for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1809.4 v. : port. ; 22 cm.Also issued in microfiche.LLMC Digital
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17by Blackstone, William, 1723-1780### CRL customization ### ?> ### Add publisher and desc details ### ?>
Published 1862London : J. Murray, 1862.1 online resource (4 volumes) : forms.LLMC Digital
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Published 1902Philadelphia : R. Welsh, 1902-1915.1 online resource (4 volumes (xxxi, 2021 pages))LLMC Digital
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Published 1856London : W. Maxwell, 1856.1 online resource (liv, 834 pages)LLMC Digital
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Published 1796Dublin : Printed by L. White, P. Bryne, and J. Rice, 1796.1 online resource (4 volumes)LLMC Digital
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