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 1809London : Printed for Clarke and Sons, 1809.xv, [1], 703 p. : port. ; 21 cm.Also issued in microfiche.LLMC Digital
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Published 1840London : E. Spettigue, 1840.xviii, 499, lii pages ; 22 cm.LLMC Digital
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3by Blackstone, William, 1723-1780### CRL customization ### ?> ### Add publisher and desc details ### ?>
Published 1799Boston : Printed by I. Thomas and E.T. Andrews, 1799.1 online resource (4 volumes) : portrait.LLMC Digital
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Published 1858Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1858.1 online resource (2 volumes)LLMC Digital
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Published 1856Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1856.1 online resource (2 volumes)LLMC Digital
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Published 1762Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1762.lxxvii, [4], 189, [14] p.Also issued in microfiche.LLMC Digital
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Published 1766Dublin : Printed for Elizabeth Watts, 1766.lxi, [4], 189, [14] p.Also issued in microfiche.LLMC Digital
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Published 1836London : S. Sweet, 1836.1 online resource (4 volumes) : portrait.LLMC Digital
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9by Blackstone, William, 1723-1780### CRL customization ### ?> ### Add publisher and desc details ### ?>
Published 1801Paris : D'Hacquart, 1801.1 online resource (viii, 448 pages)LLMC Digital
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10by Blackstone, William, 1723-1780### CRL customization ### ?> ### Add publisher and desc details ### ?>
Published 1844London : S. Sweet, 1844.4 volumes : portrait ; 23 cm.LLMC Digital
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11by Blackstone, William, 1723-1780### CRL customization ### ?> ### Add publisher and desc details ### ?>
Published 1775Dublin : Printed for John Colles, 1775.4 v. ; 17 cm.Also issued in microfiche.LLMC Digital
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Published 1771Dublin : Printed for John Exshaw, Henry Saunders, Boulter Grierson, and James Williams, 1771.4 v. ; 22 cm.Also issued in microfiche.LLMC Digital
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Published 1807Portland [Me.] : Printed and published by Thomas B. Wait & Co., 1807.1 online resource (4 volumes, [3] leaves of plates (1 folded)) : genealogical tables, portrait.LLMC Digital
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Published 1796London : Printed for W. Clarke and Son, 1796.viii, 566 p. ; 22 cm.Also issued in microfiche.LLMC Digital
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Published 1781London : Printed by his Majesty's Law Printers for W. Strahan, T. Cadell and D. Prince, 1781.1 online resource (2 volumes)LLMC Digital
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Published 1873London : Longmans, Green, 1873.xxiv, [29]-352 p. : ill. ; 30 cm.Also issued in microfiche.LLMC Digital
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Published 1877London : John Murray, 1877.xx, 608 p. ; 19 cm.Also issued in microfiche.LLMC Digital
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Published 1759Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1759.lxx, [4], 189, [14] p.Also issued in microfiche.LLMC Digital
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Published 1892New York : Banks & Bros., 1892, ©1890.xx, 1148 pages ; 24 cm.LLMC Digital
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20by Blackstone, William, 1723-1780### CRL customization ### ?> ### Add publisher and desc details ### ?>
Published 1770Oxford : Printed at the Clarendon Press, 1770.4 v. ; 28 x 23 cm.Also issued in microfiche.LLMC Digital
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