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Monday, March 21, 2005
Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England
Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England is a foundation stone of Anglo-Saxon common law, still cited in court decisions in countries which didn't exist when it was written, more than two centuries after it was published. Given my proclivity for reading arcane books, I've been tempted to buy a copy but have been deterred by the outrageous price of printed editions. Given that the work is entirely in the public domain, I wondered when somebody would put this essential reference on the Web. Well, behold, somebody has! Here is what appears to be a complete edition of the 1765-1769 original text with all the notes linked to footnote citations. I'm not a lawyer and I don't have a canonical copy of Blackstone to compare against this document, but it certainly looks genuine, and I look forward to reading it in those occasional moments in which my brain's legal input valve is open.Posted at March 21, 2005 00:23