Sir William Blackstone. by David A. Lockmiller, LL.B, Ph.D - 1970.

Gloucester, MA Peter Smith, 1970. Hardcover Reprint Edition (1970). First published in 1938. Very Good to Very Good+: shows just a touch of wear to the corner tips; a bit of crimping to the head and heel of the backstrip; the very faintest sunning to the backstrip (the titles thereon remain bold and clearly legible); a tiny spot of soil at the fore-edge; the binding is slightly cocked but remains secure; the text is clean. Free of creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of any underlining, hi-lighting or marginalia or marks in the text. Free of ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, or labels. A handsome copy, tightly bound, showing mild wear and minor flaws. Bright and Clean. Corners Sharp. Close to 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (8.25 x 5.65 x 1.15 inches). xviii, 308 pages. Language: English. Weight: 20 ounces. Reprint Edition (1970). First published in 1938. Hardback: No DJ 'as issued'. Sir William Blackstone SL KC (1723 – 1780) was an English jurist, judge and Tory politician of the eighteenth century. Blackstone's legacy and main work of note is his Commentaries. Designed to provide a complete overview of English law, the four-volume treatise was 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. 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,and Abraham Lincoln, and remain frequently cited in Supreme Court decisions.