Portrait of Sir William Blackstone

Sir William Blackstone

1723 – 1780

Sir William Blackstone’s (1723-1780) four-volume Commentaries on the Laws of England assures him a place in history as one of the greatest scholars of English common law. Blackstone began his lectures on the common law in 1753. His Commentaries served as a primary instruction tool in England and America well into the nineteenth century and exerted a pronounced influence on the development of the American legal tradition.

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Blackstone featured as the July 2021 OLL Birthday. Read it here.

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