William Blackstone

William Blackstone was born in London, the son of a silk merchant who died before his birth; his mother died when he was twelve. He studied at Oxford, became a fellow of All Souls College, and trained as a barrister, though he had little success in practice at first. In 1753 he began giving the first lectures on English common law ever offered at an English university, and in 1758 he became the first Vinerian Professor of English Law at Oxford. His lectures became the four volumes of the Commentaries on the Laws of England, published from 1765 to 1769. Written in clear, elegant prose, the Commentaries explained the rights of persons, the rights of things, private wrongs and public wrongs, and described English law as grounded in natural law and protecting the absolute rights of personal security, personal liberty and private property. He wrote that it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer. The Commentaries became the main way lawyers learned law in America for a century. Blackstone later served in Parliament and as a judge. He died in 1780.

William Blackstone is also an author in the library: author page and works.

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