Blackstone’s Commentaries on Law (Book)

William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England was the first legal treatise to comprehensively describe the common law as it existed in England in the mid-eighteenth century. The Commentaries originated as a series of lectures Blackstone delivered at Oxford University. The lectures were extremely popular, leading Blackstone to publish the Commentaries in 1765. A 1767 review praised Blackstone’s achievement:  “Mr. Blackstone has entirely cleared the law of England from the rubbish in which it was buried and now shows it to the public in a clear, concise, and intelligible form.” The impact of Blackstone’s Commentaries was immediate and profound in England, but its influence was greater still in the new American colonies.