The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Lectures On Law,
• Part I.: Lectures On Law.
• Chapter XII.: Of the Common Law.
• Chapter XIII.: Of the Nature and Philosophy of Evidence.
• Part 2.: Lectures On Law.
• Chapter I.: Of the Constitutions of the United States and of Pennsylvania—of the Legislative Department.
• Chapter II.: Of the Executive Department.
• Chapter III.: Of the Judicial Department.
• Chapter IV.: Of the Nature of Courts.
• Chapter V.: Of the Constituent Parts of Courts.—of the Judges.
• Chapter VI.: The Subject Continued. of Juries.
• Chapter VII.: The Subject Continued. of Sheriffs and Coroners.
• Chapter VIII.: The Subject Continued. of Counsellors and Attornies.
• Chapter IX.: The Subject Continued. of Constables.
• Chapter X.: Of Corporations.
• Chapter XI.: Of Citizens and Aliens.
• Chapter XII.: Of the Natural Rights of Individuals.
• Part 3.: Lectures On Law.
• Chapter I.: Of the Nature of Crimes; and the Necessity and Proportion of Punishments.
• Chapter II.: Of Crimes Against the Right of Individuals to Their Property.
• Chapter III.: Of Crimes Against the Right of Individuals to Liberty, and to Reputation.
• Chapter IV.: Of Crimes Against the Right of Individuals to Personal Safety.
• Chapter V.: Of Crimes, Immediately Against the Community.
• Chapter VI.: Of Crimes, Affecting Several of the Natural Rights of Individuals.
• Chapter VII.: Of Crimes Against the Rights of Individuals Acquired Under Civil Government.
• Chapter VIII.: Of the Persons Capable of Committing Crimes; and of the Different Degrees of Guilt Incurred In the Commission of the Same Crime.
• Chapter IX.: Of the Direct Means Used By the Law to Prevent Offences.
• Chapter X.: Of the Different Steps Prescribed By the Law, For Apprehending, Detaining, Trying, and Punishing Offenders.
• Bibliographical Glossary *
• Afterword

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL GLOSSARY*

AFTERWORD

The Collected Works of James Wilson was originally to be edited solely by Kermit Hall, a distinguished scholar of constitutional law and president of the State University of New York at Albany. Because of my previous work on Wilson, I had consulted with Liberty Fund on the project and agreed to write a bibliographical essay for the volume. After Kermit Hall’s tragic death in 2006, Liberty Fund asked me to help bring the project to completion. Although we share the same surname, Kermit Hall and I are related only by our interest in constitutional law and in James Wilson.

Kermit Hall had made significant progress on these volumes, but much work remained. I found it necessary to add and rearrange documents and to write and revise numerous headnotes and annotations. I made only minor stylistic and grammatical revisions to Kermit Hall’s original introduction.

Joining a project of this magnitude at a relatively late stage would have been extremely difficult without the excellent work of editors at Liberty Fund—notably Laura Goetz and Dan Kirklin. As well, I am grateful for support provided by George Fox University, particularly my student assistants Deanne Kastine and Janna McKee. Master librarian Alex Rolfe provided expert assistance tracking down obscure figures for annotations. Joshua W. D. Smith of Veritas School made last-minute translations of approximately two dozen obscure Latin phrases. Finally, as noted above, these volumes exist because of Maynard Garrison, to whom all students of Wilson owe a debt of gratitude.

I would like to dedicate my contributions to these volumes to the founders, teachers, board members, and students of Veritas School in Newberg, Oregon.

Mark David Hall

• Herbert Hoover Distinguished Professor of Political Science
• George Fox University

May 25, 2007

The typeface used in this book is Adobe Caslon, a 1990 interpretation by Carol Twombly of the classic face cut in the 1720s by the English typographer William Caslon (1692–1766). Trained as an engraver, Caslon turned to type design and cutting, setting up his own type foundry in 1720. Caslon became the first major native English typeface to achieve wide popularity. It displays the small lowercase height and the restrained contrast typical of what are now called old-style fonts. The modern version smooths out many of the idiosyncrasies of William Caslon’s original cutting, while retaining the warmth and honesty that have made Caslon a friend of the typographer for centuries.

This book is printed on paper that is acid-free and meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, z39.48-1992. (archival)

Book design by Eric Kirk New, Watkinsville, Georgia

Typography by G & S Typesetters, Austin, Texas

Printed and bound by Worzalla Publishing Company, Stevens Point, Wisconsin

[* ]“Bibliographical Glossary” reprinted by permission of the publisher from The Works of James Wilson: Volume II, edited by Robert Green McCloskey, pp. 849–56; Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1967 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.