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128-736: In the late 1880s residents jokingly referred to the street as Blackstone after the English legal scholar William Blackstone , due to the number of lawyers living there. The local history may be best recorded by some of the old surviving homes on Blackstone Avenue which are in the Register of National Historic Places, including the Ella Hoxie Home (251 N. Blackstone Avenue); Brix Home (313 N. Blackstone Avenue); Griffen Home (319 N. Blackstone Avenue); Hines Home (333 N. Blackstone Avenue). Earth Metrics Inc. performed an analysis of historic aerial photographs in

256-518: A Serjeant-at-Law on 12 February. After only four days it was announced that Joseph Yates was to move to the Common Pleas, and Blackstone was again sworn in as a judge, this time of the Court of King's Bench. This was apparently due to Yates' poor health; Lord Mansfield ran a busy court as Lord Chief Justice , and it was felt that his transfer to the Common Pleas was for the best. Others commented that it

384-410: A writ would have to be issued, with different writs depending on the issue. If A wished to sue B for trespass, debt and detinue , the court would have to issue an individual writ for each action, with associated time delays and costs for A, and then ensure that B appeared in court. Bills, on the other hand, were traditionally used against court officials and the court's prisoners; as such, the defendant

512-841: A "major piece of pioneering scholarship" leading to Blackstone's election to the Society of Antiquaries in February 1761, and A Treatise on the Law of Descents in Fee Simple , which was later used, almost verbatim, as chapters 14 and 15 of the Commentaries . With sponsorship from the Prince of Wales and his success with the Analysis , Blackstone began work as a barrister, although he kept up his lecture series at Oxford. By 1760 he had become "a very eminent figure indeed in

640-489: A bill of arrest on its own. This became known as the Bill of Middlesex , and undermined the jurisdiction of the Court of Common Pleas, which would normally deal with such civil cases. The advantages to this method were that bills were substantially cheaper, and unlike writs did not tie the plaintiff down. Once the case came to court the bill could be amended to include any action or actions the plaintiff wanted to enforce. By avoiding

768-569: A complete overview of English law and were 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 . Legal education in England had stalled; Blackstone's work gave

896-469: A criminal court. This was factually incorrect; no indictment was tried by the King's Bench until January 1323, and no record of the court ordering the death penalty is found until halfway through Edward II 's reign. The court did have some criminal jurisdiction, with a royal ordinance in 1293 directing conspiracy cases to be brought to the King's Bench and the court's judges acting in trailbaston commissions around

1024-497: A familial tie to the founder or All Souls in an attempt to gain preeminence in elections. Completion of his Doctor of Civil Law degree, which he was awarded in April 1750, admitted him to Convocation , the governing body of Oxford, which elected the two burgesses who represented it in the House of Commons, along with most of the university officers. With this and with his continuing work at

1152-492: A far greater political mind. In addition, a private lecture series would be extremely lucrative. While his All Souls fellowship gave him £70 a year, records show that the lecture series brought him £116, £226 and £111 a year respectively from 1753 to 1755 – a total of £453 (£89,000 in 2023 terms). A prospectus was issued on 23 June 1753, and with a class of approximately 20 students, the first set of lectures were completed by July 1754. Despite Blackstone's limited oratory skills and

1280-410: A fully independent tribunal, considering it part of the law reform which took place from 1232 to 1234. Under Edward I , the presence of the King in the court became more and more irregular, and by 1318 the court sat independent of the monarch. Its last travels around the country were in 1414 to Leicestershire , Staffordshire and Shropshire , and a visit to Northamptonshire in 1421. From then onwards,

1408-513: A large number of contacts and connections, as well as visibility, which aided his legal career significantly. This period also saw Blackstone write his last known piece of poetry, Friendship: An Ode , in 1756. In 1756 Blackstone published the first of his full legal texts, the 200 page An Analysis of the Laws of England . Published by the Clarendon Press , the treatise was intended to demonstrate

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1536-527: A leading Exchequer barrister. The next five vacancies also failed to go to Blackstone, after the appointment of Lord Camden (a Whig) as Lord Chancellor . In 1765 Blackstone announced his resignation from the Vinerian Chair , effective after his 1766 lectures. These were divided into two 14-lecture series, on "private wrongs" and "public wrongs" delivered between 12 February and 24 April. At this point Blackstone had published nothing new since A Treatise on

1664-399: A logical system, with the division of subjects later being the basis for his Commentaries . Following his lecture series, Blackstone became more prominent in convocation and other university activities. Oxford and Cambridge at the time had a strange system of law; due to their unique natures, they had exclusive jurisdiction over both academics and students in a fashion which followed either

1792-505: A member of a family of lesser gentry from Middlesex . Their first child, William Bertie Blackstone, born 21 August 1762, did not survive to adulthood. Seven more children were born: Henry, James, Sarah, Mary, Philippa, William, Charles, and George, who also died in childhood. The Blackstones had a large estate in Wallingford in Berkshire, including 120 acres (46 ha) of pastureland around

1920-477: A more relaxed disposition. While quick to take offence at perceived slights on his own character and motives, he could also show surprising indifference to the effect his words and actions might have on others". This marked the beginning of his break with Oxford, which coincided with his growing influence outside the university. In 1759 Lord Bute , Prince George 's official tutor, requested copies of Blackstone's lectures, which he forwarded. Later that year Blackstone

2048-564: A patron, for his assistance in gaining appointment as Chief Justice of Chester , writing again in July 1762 to "prevail upon Lord Bute to recommend me to his Majesty's Notice", anticipating an upcoming vacancy in the Court of Common Pleas . Parliamentary service was considered a "desirable if never absolutely essential qualification for would-be English judges", something that did not necessarily bode well for Blackstone. Naturally inarticulate and reticent, he

2176-415: A poor trial judge, being reversed on appeal more frequently than any of his peers. Blackstone returned to the Common Pleas on 25 June 1770, having spent less than six months in the King's Bench; Jeremy Bentham asserted that this was due to Mansfield's having Blackstone removed similarly to his removal of Yates. Bentham asserted that in the King's Bench, Blackstone was "always in hot water", and that there

2304-783: A scandalous Libell notoriously reflecting on the Character of him the said William Blackstone". Jackson had refused to reveal who ordered the anonymous pamphlet, leading to the suit, but it evidently did not proceed further. This suit, along with the struggle over the Vinerian Professorship and other controversies, damaged his reputation within the university, as evidenced by his failure to win election as Vice Warden in April 1759, losing to John White. Prest attributes Blackstone's unpopularity to specific personality traits, saying his "determination...in pursuit of causes to which he committed himself could irritate as well as intimidate those of

2432-479: A silver medal for his Latin verses on John Milton , gave the annual Latin oration in 1738, and was noted as having been the favourite student of his masters. On 1 October 1738, taking advantage of a new scholarship available to Charterhouse students, Blackstone matriculated at Pembroke College, Oxford . There are few surviving records of Blackstone's undergraduate term at Oxford, but the curriculum of Pembroke College had been set out in 1624, and Prest notes that it

2560-473: A speaking style described by Jeremy Bentham as "formal, precise and affected", Blackstone's lectures were warmly appreciated. The second and third series were far more popular, partly due to the then unusual use of printed handouts and lists of suggested reading. No copies of these handouts exist, but Alexander Popham , later a close friend of Blackstone, attended the lectures and made notes, which survive. These show Blackstone's attempts to reduce English law to

2688-460: A trespass writ would be obtained and then quietly dismissed when B was detained in custody. This was originally undertaken through getting a writ of trespass from the Chancery, but eventually a shorter workaround was used; since the King's Bench retained criminal jurisdiction over Middlesex, the trespass (which was fictitious anyway) would be said to have occurred there, allowing the King's Bench to issue

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2816-427: A writ of debt in the Common Pleas, a problematic and archaic process. By 1558 the lawyers had succeeded in creating another method, enforced by the Court of King's Bench, through the action of assumpsit , which was technically for deceit. The legal fiction used was that by failing to pay after promising to do so, a defendant had committed deceit, and was liable to the plaintiff. The conservative Common Pleas, through

2944-521: Is a nine-foot (2.7 m) standing portrait of Blackstone wearing judicial robes and a long curly wig, holding a copy of Commentaries . It is placed on a tall granite base and stands on Constitution Avenue and 3rd Street NW. The town of Blackstone, Virginia , is named after him. The North Wall Frieze in the courtroom of the Supreme Court of the United States depicts William Blackstone, as one of

3072-459: Is approximately 330 feet (100 m) above mean sea level. The underlying sediments of the Blackstone Avenue area are a heterogeneous mix of generally poorly sorted clay , silt , sand and gravel . This California road–related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . William Blackstone Sir William Blackstone (10 July 1723 – 14 February 1780)

3200-470: Is attributed to his work. In 1749 he became Steward of the Manors, and in 1750 was made Senior Bursar. Records show a "perfectionist zeal" in organising the estates and finances of All Souls, and Blackstone was noted for massively simplifying the complex accounting system used by the college. In 1750 Blackstone completed his first legal tract, An Essay on Collateral Consanguinity , which dealt with those claiming

3328-488: Is the one picked up by Benjamin Franklin and others, so that the term has become known as "Blackstone's Ratio". As John Adams , having studied Blackstone, put it: It is more important that innocence should be protected, than it is, that guilt be punished; for guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world, that all of them cannot be punished.... when innocence itself, is brought to the bar and condemned, especially to die,

3456-406: Is understandable, given his family's theological interests, but the more surprising element is the sheer number of texts he owned given his relative poverty as a student. On 9 July 1740, after only a year and a half as a Bachelor of Arts student, Blackstone was admitted to study for a Bachelor of Civil Law degree, civil law being the only legal area recognised by his university. This degree course

3584-500: The British Enlightenment ", comparing him to Montesquieu , Beccaria and Voltaire . Academics have said that the Commentaries were crucial in changing English Law from a system based on actions to a system of substantive law . At the time of publication, the common law of England was still, in some ways, in its infancy, with people uncertain as to what the law was. The Commentaries helped to solidify legal thinking. At

3712-514: The Commentaries had a substantial impact; with the scarcity of law books on the frontier, they were "both the only law school and the only law library most American lawyers used to practise law in America for nearly a century after they were published." Blackstone had drawn up a plan for a dedicated School of Law, and submitted it to the University of Oxford ; when the idea was rejected he included it in

3840-474: The Commentaries . It is from this plan that the modern system of American law schools comes. Subscribers to the first edition of Blackstone, and later readers who were profoundly influenced by it, include James Iredell , John Marshall , James Wilson , John Jay , John Adams , James Kent and Abraham Lincoln . In the early 1920s the American Bar Association presented a statue of Blackstone to

3968-519: The Commentaries on the Laws of England . In England and America the Commentaries became the basis of university legal education. Demand for reprinted, abridged and translated versions was "almost inexhaustible" in the 18th and 19th centuries, although the Commentaries' emphasis on the sovereignty of Parliament drew ire. Alexis de Tocqueville described Blackstone as "an inferior writer, without liberality of mind or depth of judgment". Other commentators differ; one described him as "the core element in

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4096-442: The Court of Chancery and equitable doctrines as one of the two principal common law courts along with the Common Pleas. To recover, the King's Bench undertook a scheme of revolutionary reform, creating less expensive, faster and more versatile types of pleading in the form of bills as opposed to the more traditional writs . Although not immediately stemming the tide, it helped the King's Bench to recover and increase its workload in

4224-509: The Court of Chancery are also noted, and he is known to have been consulted in Roger Newdigate 's long-running lawsuit there, but his early court appearances are infrequent. This is considered to have been due to his call to the Bar occurring at the same time as the massive contraction in business by the central courts, along with his singular lack of connections due to his status as an orphan from

4352-458: The Court of Exchequer Chamber served for appeals of King's Bench decisions. Originally, the sole "court" was the curia regis , one of the three central administrative bodies along with the Exchequer and Chancery , from which the Court of Chancery formed. This curia was the King's court, composed of those advisers and courtiers who followed the King as he travelled around the country. This

4480-574: The High Court of Justice by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 , after which point the King's Bench was a division within the High Court. The King's Bench was staffed by one Chief Justice (now the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales ) and usually three Puisne Justices . In the 15th and 16th centuries, the King's Bench's jurisdiction and caseload was significantly challenged by the rise of

4608-515: The Magna Carta so that common pleas could be heard in "some fixed place". Thus, there were two common law courts: the curia , which followed the King, and the Common Pleas, which sat in Westminster Hall . The curia eventually became known as the King's Bench, with the King himself required to be present for the court to sit. There is some controversy over whether the original fixed court

4736-572: The River Thames and the right of advowson over St Peter's Church . In February 1761 Blackstone was considered as a potential Tory candidate for the rotten borough of Hindon in Wiltshire. After consultation with friends, he agreed to this prospect – at the same time refusing the offer of appointment as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland . On 30 March 1761 he was returned for Hindon, and took his seat. This did not limit his legal work, initially, with

4864-469: The Third Earl of Abingdon , making it an appropriate house for a "great and able Lawyer". Blackstone's treatise was 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,

4992-512: The appellate court the Court of Exchequer Chamber, began to overrule decisions made by the King's Bench on assumpsit , causing friction between the courts. In Slade's Case, the Chief Justice of the King's Bench , John Popham , deliberately provoked the Common Pleas into bringing an assumpsit action to a higher court where the Justices of the King's Bench could vote, allowing them to overrule

5120-455: The curia travelled with the King, there were problems with the administration of justice. For example, if the King left the country for an extended period of time (as Richard I , who spent the vast majority of his reign overseas did), the curia followed, making hearings difficult to hold. To remedy this, a central "bench" was established; the Court of Common Pleas , initially split from the Exchequer of Pleas , received official recognition in

5248-427: The "Order, and principal Divisions" of his lecture series, and a structured introduction to English law. Prest calls this "a marked advance on any previous introduction to English law ... including constitutional, civil and criminal law, public and private law, substantive law and procedure, as well as some introductory jurisprudential content". The initial print run of 1,000 copies almost immediately sold out, leading to

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5376-601: The Bill of Westminster and other legal fictions, the King's Bench gained much of the Common Pleas's jurisdiction, although the Common Pleas remained the sole place where real property claims could be brought. The head of the court was the Chief Justice of the King's Bench, a position established by 1268. From the 14th century onwards, the Chief Justice was appointed by a writ, in Latin until 1727 and in English from then on. The Chief Justice

5504-409: The Blackstone Avenue vicinity. In 1946, the area contained many residences on large lots. The photographs observed indicate that many of these large lots included row crops . Surrounding lands at that time were predominantly used for agriculture, with orchards lining much of the western side of Blackstone Avenue. A mixture of row crops, vacant fields, orchards, and scattered residences made up much of

5632-477: The Chancery writ, the case was substantially cheaper. The result of this was substantial; between 1560 and 1640, the King's Bench's business rose tenfold. This period also saw a substantial broadening of the remedies available in the common law. The main remedy and method was action on the case , which justices expanded to encompass other things. In 1499 it enabled the enforcement of parol promises, which rendered Chancery subpoenas obsolete; later developments included

5760-499: The Chief Justices became appointed to serve "during good behaviour". The initial salary was £40 a year, with an additional £66 in 1372 and an increase to a total of £160 in 1389. An ordinance of 1646 set a fixed salary of £1,000, increased to £2,000 in 1714, £4,000 in 1733, and finally peaked at £10,000 a year in 1825. Pension arrangements were first made in 1799, peaking at £4,000 a year in 1825. The position remains to this day; after

5888-426: The Common Pleas and establish assumpsit as the main contractual action. After the death of Edmund Anderson , the more activist Francis Gawdy became Chief Justice of the Common Pleas , which briefly led to a less reactionary and more revolutionary Common Pleas. The struggle continued even after this point. The Interregnum granted some respite to the Common Pleas, which abolished fines on original writs, hurting

6016-580: The Common Pleas, Blackstone operated under a civil jurisdiction rather than a mixed civil and criminal one. This played to his strengths, and many of his decisions are considered farsighted; the principle in Blaney v Hendricks , for example, that interest is due on an account where money was lent, which anticipated Section 3 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934 . Blackstone's decision in Goldswain's Case

6144-493: The Court of Common Pleas, eyre circuits, assize courts and local courts, but was not a court of last resort; its own records were sent to Parliament to be signed off on. The creation of the Court of Exchequer Chamber in 1585 created a court from which King's Bench decisions could be appealed to, and with the expansion of the Exchequer Chamber's jurisdiction in 1830 the King's Bench ceased to be an appellate court. Thanks to

6272-728: The English Bar Association; however, at the time, the sculpture was too tall to be placed in the Royal Courts of Justice in London. The sculpture, designed by Paul Wayland Bartlett was eventually cast in Europe and presented back to the US for display. Congress approved the placement of the sculpture in Washington, D.C., on 15 March 1943, and appropriated $ 10,000 for the installation. The bronze statue

6400-571: The King Before the King Himself , was a court of common law in the English legal system . Created in the late 12th to early 13th century from the curia regis , the King's Bench initially followed the monarch on his travels. The King's Bench finally joined the Court of Common Pleas and Exchequer of Pleas in Westminster Hall in 1318, making its last travels in 1421. The King's Bench was merged into

6528-484: The King's Bench became a fixed court rather than one that followed the King. Like the Common Pleas, the King's Bench sat in Westminster Hall until its dissolution. During the 15th century, the traditional superiority of the common law courts was challenged by ecclesiastical courts and the equitable jurisdiction of the Lord Chancellor , exercised through the Court of Chancery. These courts were more attractive to

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6656-512: The King's Bench, 13,009 in the Common Pleas and 6,778 in the Exchequer of Pleas. Not surprisingly, the King's Bench judges were "immoderately over burdened", the Common Pleas judges were "fully occupied in term, and much engaged in vacation also" and the Barons of the Exchequer were "comparatively little occupied either in term or vacation". In response to this and the report of a committee investigating

6784-408: The King's Bench, but in 1660 the fines were reinstated and "then the very attorneys of the Common Pleas boggled at them and carried all their finable business to the King's Bench". In 1661 the Common Pleas attempted to reverse this by pushing for an Act of Parliament to abolish latitats based on legal fictions, forbidding "special bail" in any case where "the true cause of action" was not expressed in

6912-414: The Law of Descents in Fee Simple in 1759. The decision to resign was most likely due to the increasing demands of his legal practice and the reduced profit from the lectures, which, after peaking at £340 in 1762, dropped to £239 a year later and to £203 for the final round of lectures in 1765–6. In response, Blackstone decided to publish a new book – Commentaries on the Laws of England . The first volume

7040-506: The Laws of England . So much was this the case that the Commentaries rank second only to the Bible as a literary and intellectual influence on the history of American institutions." Even towards the end of the twentieth century, the Commentaries were cited in Supreme Court decisions between 10 and 12 times a year. Within United States academia and practise, as well as within the judiciary,

7168-654: The Queen's Bench Division of the High Court. The existence of the same courts as divisions of one unified body was a quirk of constitutional law, which prevented the compulsory demotion or retirement of Chief Justices. Thus all three Chief Justices (Lord Chief Justice Sir Alexander Cockburn , Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Lord Coleridge and Chief Baron of the Exchequer Sir Fitzroy Kelly ) continued in post. Kelly and Cockburn died in 1880, allowing for

7296-464: The Study of the Law . The lecture was tremendously popular, being described as a "sensible, spirited and manly exhortation to the study of the law"; the initial print run sold out, necessitating the publication of another 1,000 copies, and it was used to preface later versions of the Analysis and the first volume of the Commentaries . Within the university, however, Blackstone was not as popular. As soon as

7424-586: The US, and is strongly emphasised to American law students. English jurist Jeremy Bentham was a critic of Blackstone's theories. Others saw Blackstone's theories as inaccurate statements of English law, using the Constitutions of Clarendon , the Tractatus of Glanville and the 1689 Bill of Rights as particularly obvious examples of laws Blackstone omitted. Court of King%27s Bench (England) The Court of King's Bench , formally known as The Court of

7552-546: The [common] law." The Commentaries had a particular influence in the United States; James Iredell , an original Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States wrote that the Commentaries were "Books admirably calculated for a young Student, and indeed may instruct the most learned ... Pleasure and Instruction go hand in hand." When the Commentaries were first printed in North America, 1,400 copies were ordered for Philadelphia alone. Academics have also noted

7680-679: The abolition of the Common Pleas Division and Exchequer Division by Order in Council on 16 December 1880. The High Court was reorganised into the Chancery Division, Queen's Bench Division and the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division . Due to a misunderstanding by Sir Edward Coke in his Institutes of the Lawes of England , academics thought for a long time that the King's Bench was primarily

7808-424: The central courts only sat for three months of the year, the rest of his time was spent on Assize when his work at All Souls permitted. He regularly acted as a law reporter; his personal notes on cases start with Hankey v Trotman (1746). Blackstone's barrister practice began slowly; his first case in the Court of King's Bench was in 1748, and he had only 6 additional motions there through 1751. Two appearances in

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7936-626: The common law and equity, and instead suggested a single Supreme Court capable of using both. In 1870 the Lord Chancellor, Lord Hatherly , attempted to bring the recommendations into law through an Act of Parliament, but did not go to the trouble of consulting the judiciary or the leader of the Conservatives, who controlled the House of Lords . The bill ran into strong opposition from lawyers and judges, particularly Alexander Cockburn . After Hatherly

8064-484: The common law or their own customs, based on the civil law. With his appointment as assessor (or chief legal officer) of the Chancellor's Court, Blackstone became far more involved in the university's peculiar legal system, and records show him sitting between eight and ten times a year from 1753 to 1759, mainly dealing with small claims of debt. He also wrote a manual on the Court's practice, and through his position gained

8192-422: The common lawyers because of their informality and the simple method used to arrest defendants. The bills of complaint and subpoena used by the Chancery made court procedure far faster, and from 1460 to 1540 there was a steep decline in the number of cases in the common law courts, coinciding with a sharp increase in cases in the newer courts. This loss of business was quickly recognised by the King's Bench, which

8320-462: The complex accounting system used by the college. On 3 July 1753 he formally gave up his practice as a barrister and instead embarked on a series of lectures on English law, the first of their kind. These were massively successful, earning him a total of £453 (£89,000 in 2023 terms), and led to the publication of An Analysis of the Laws of England in 1756, which repeatedly sold out and was used to preface his later works. On 20 October 1759 Blackstone

8448-450: The country. A. T. Carter, in his History of English Legal Institutions , defines the early King's Bench jurisdiction as "to correct all crimes and misdemeanours that amounted to a breach of the peace, the King being then plaintiff, for such were in derogation of the Jura regalia; and to take cognizance of everything not parcelled out to the other courts". By the end of the 14th century much of

8576-405: The court system, and Francis North , Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, eventually reached a compromise by allowing such legal fictions in the Common Pleas as well as the King's Bench. The unintended outcome of these compromises was that by the end of Charles II 's reign, all three common law courts had a similar jurisdiction over most common pleas, with similar processes. By the 18th century, it

8704-555: The criminal jurisdiction had declined, although the court maintained a criminal jurisdiction over all cases in Middlesex , the county where Westminster Hall stood. The King's Bench's main jurisdiction was over "pleas of the crown"; cases which involved the King in some way. With the exception of revenue matters, which were handled by the Exchequer of Pleas, the King's Bench held exclusive jurisdiction over these cases. The Court of King's Bench did act as an appellate body, hearing appeals from

8832-454: The dissolution of the Court of King's Bench, the Chief Justice has instead been the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales , now the head of the Judiciary of England and Wales . A Chief Justice of the King's Bench was assisted in his work by a number of Justices of the King's Bench . Occasionally appointed before 1272, the number fluctuated considerably between 1 and 4; from 1522, the number

8960-656: The early reliance of the Supreme Court on the Commentaries , probably due to a lack of US legal tradition at that time. The US academic Robert Ferguson notes that "all our formative documents – the Declaration of Independence , the Constitution , the Federalist Papers and the seminal decisions of the Supreme Court under John Marshall – were drafted by attorneys steeped in Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on

9088-456: The family following Charles' death, helps explain the educational upbringing of the children. William Blackstone was sent to Charterhouse School in 1730 having been nominated by Charles Wither, a relative of Mary Blackstone. William did well there, and became head of the school by age 15. However, after Charles' death the family fortunes declined, and after Mary died (5 January 1736) the family's resources largely went to meet unpaid bills. William

9216-527: The first of four volumes of Commentaries on the Laws of England , considered his magnum opus ; the completed work earned Blackstone £14,000 (£2,459,000 in 2023 terms). After repeated failures, he successfully gained appointment to the judiciary as a justice of the Court of King's Bench on 16 February 1770, leaving to replace Edward Clive as a justice of the Common Pleas on 25 June. He remained in this position until his death, on 14 February 1780. Blackstone's four-volume Commentaries were designed to provide

9344-399: The government open. As such, Blackstone, now MP for Westbury , was apparently approached to become Solicitor-General; he refused, not wanting to deal with the complicated duties attached to the position. On 9 February 1770 – apparently with the intervention of the King, and possibly Lord Mansfield – Blackstone became a Justice of the Common Pleas , succeeding Edward Clive , and was made

9472-402: The grant of Magna Carta . The later theory was that Henry II's decree created the Court of Common Pleas, not the King's Bench, and that the King's Bench instead split from the Common Pleas at some later time. The first records of an independent King's Bench come from 1234, when distinct plea rolls are found for each court. Modern academics give 1234 as the founding date for the King's Bench as

9600-413: The group executing Charles Viner's will reported to Convocation that Viner recommended creating a Chair of English Law, with a £200 salary. After much debate, this position was created, and on 20 October 1758 Blackstone was confirmed as the first Vinerian Professor of English Law . On 24 October he gave his first lecture, to "a crowded audience"; the text was soon printed and published as A Discourse on

9728-444: The king's court but should remain there to hear the complaints of men, with this understanding that, if there should come up among them any question which could not be brought to a conclusion by them, it should be presented to a royal hearing and be determined by the king and the wiser men of the kingdom". This was originally interpreted as the foundation of the King's Bench, with the Court of Common Pleas not coming into existence until

9856-409: The landscape on the eastern side of Blackstone Avenue. The aerial photographs taken in 1962 indicate that land use in the subject site vicinity showed significant change between 1946 and 1962. Urbanization occurred in the Blackstone Avenue vicinity during this period. Orchards and row crops had been largely replaced by commercial and residential structures by 1962. The elevation of Blackstone Avenue

9984-708: The law "at least a veneer of scholarly respectability". 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 , James Kent and Abraham Lincoln , and remain frequently cited in Supreme Court decisions. Blackstone

10112-676: The lecture series opened, an anonymously written open letter was published charging that Blackstone had "violated the Statutes of the University, by arbitrarily changing the Day appointed for reading his solemn Lectures". Blackstone suffered a nervous breakdown soon after the first lecture, and on 24 November he launched a suit in the Chancellor's Court against "William Jackson of the City of Oxford Printer" for £500 damages, justified by Jackson "printing and publishing

10240-617: The life-sized statue of Blackstone in his judicial robes cost £539, and has rested in the Codrington Library (now the All Souls College Library ) since 1872. His brother-in-law, James Clitherow, also published in 1781 two volumes of his law reports which added £1,287 to the estate, and in 1782 the Biographical History of Sir William Blackstone appeared. Blackstone's primary legacy is his written work, specifically

10368-448: The long term. There was a steep decline in business from 1460 to 1540. As the new reforms began to take effect the King's Bench's business was significantly boosted. Between 1560 and 1640, it rose tenfold. The Common Pleas became suspicious of the new developments, as legal fictions such as the Bill of Middlesex damaged its own business. Fighting against the King's Bench in a reactionary and increasingly conservative way, an equilibrium

10496-429: The medium of a legal fiction, which was adopted for the purpose of enlarging its authority, that every person sued is in the custody of the marshal of the court and may, therefore, be proceeded against for any personal cause of actions. Thus, by degrees, this court has drawn over to itself actions which really belong to...the Court of Common Pleas. The Court of Common Pleas, however...never was able to obtain cognizance of –

10624-475: The middle class; he was described as "unrecognised and unemployed". He filled his time by acting as counsel for Oxford, and from May 1749 with his election as Recorder of Wallingford . While dividing his time, Blackstone became an administrator at All Souls, securing appointment as accountant, treasurer and bursar on 28 November 1746. Completion of the Codrington Library and Warton Building, first started in 1710 and 1720 respectively but not built until 1748,

10752-434: The most influential legal commentators in world history. Among the most well-known of Blackstone's contributions to judicial theory is his own statement of the principle that it "is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer." While this argument originates at least as far back as Genesis 18:23–32 in the Bible, as well as versions by Maimonides and Sir John Fortescue , Blackstone's analysis

10880-403: The new courts, they were viewed with suspicion by the Common Pleas, who became highly reactionary to the changes the King's Bench attempted to introduce. While the King's Bench was more revolutionary, the Common Pleas became increasingly conservative in its attempts to avoid ceding cases. The disparity between the reformist King's Bench and conservative Common Pleas was exacerbated by the fact that

11008-470: The peculiar subject of King's Bench jurisdiction – Crown Pleas... the Exchequer has adopted a similar course for, though it was originally confined to the trial of revenue cases, it has, by means of another fiction – the supposition that everybody sued is a debtor to the Crown, and further, that he cannot pay his debt, because the other party will not pay him, – opened its doors to every suitor, and so drawn to itself

11136-507: The printing of three more 1,000-book lots over the next three years, which all sold out. A fifth edition was published in 1762, and a sixth, edited to take into account Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England , in 1771. Because of the success of the Commentaries , Prest remarks that "relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to this work"; at the time, however, it was hailed as "an elegant performance ... calculated to facilitate this branch of knowledge". On 8 March 1758,

11264-491: The process. The King's Bench got around this in the 1670s; the Act did not say that the process had to be true, so the court continued to use legal fictions, simply ensuring that the true cause of action was expressed in the process, regardless of whether or not it was correct. The Bill of Middlessex disclosed the true cause of action, satisfying the 1661 statute, but did not require a valid complaint. This caused severe friction within

11392-559: The prosecution in a feud over Louis XV 's newly appointed cross-dressing Ambassador to the United Kingdom. With this increase in his practice, Blackstone also saw an increase in his out-of-court work, writing opinions and recommendations for various Oxford colleges, the MP Jonathan Rashleigh and the fourth Earl of Abingdon , who paid him to draft several private Acts of Parliament. In December 1761, he asked Lord Shelburne ,

11520-417: The recovery of debts, suing for defamatory words (previously an ecclesiastical matter) and action on the case for trover and conversion . Most of this reform took place under Fineux CJ , who never lived to see the results of his work; it took over 100 years for the reforms to fully reverse the decline in business. While these reforms succeeded in forming an equilibrium between the old common law courts and

11648-426: The right of trying cases, that were never intended to be placed within its jurisdiction. The purpose of Brougham's speech was to illustrate that three courts of identical jurisdiction were unnecessary, and further that it would create a situation where the best judges, lawyers and cases would eventually go to one court, overburdening that body and leaving the others near useless. In 1823, 43,465 actions were brought in

11776-469: The same time, legal education had stalled, and Blackstone's work gave the Law "at least a veneer of scholarly respectability". 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

11904-493: The seat being given without a requirement to attend or vote in a particular way, and the grant of a patent of precedence at the same time actually increased the demand on his time. Court records show him pleading before Lord Mansfield in the Court of King's Bench soon after his election, and acting as counsel in Tonson v Collins , a copyright case, Thiquet v Bath , an important case on international law, and R v d'Eon , acting for

12032-589: The second and third volumes, published in October 1766 and June 1768, received a similar reception. The fourth and final volume appeared in 1769, dealing with Criminal Law. With the financial success of the Commentaries , Blackstone moved in 1768 from his London property in Carey Fields to No. 55 Lincoln's Inn Fields. Neighbours included the Sardinian ambassador, Sir Walter Rawlinson , Lord Northington , John Morton and

12160-478: The slow pace of the Court of Chancery , the Judicature Commission was formed in 1867, and given a wide remit to investigate reform of the courts, the law, and the legal profession. Five reports were issued, from 25 March 1869 to 10 July 1874, with the first (dealing with the formation of a single Supreme Court of Judicature) considered the most influential. The report disposed of the previous idea of merging

12288-421: The subject will exclaim, 'it is immaterial to me whether I behave well or ill, for virtue itself is no security.' And if such a sentiment as this were to take hold in the mind of the subject that would be the end of all security whatsoever. Blackstone's Ratio is a maxim of English law , having been established as such within a few decades of Blackstone's work being published. It is also cited in courts and law in

12416-413: The three Common Pleas prothonotaries could not agree on how to cut costs, leaving the court both expensive and of limited malleability while the King's Bench became faster, cheaper and more varied in its jurisdiction. The troubles during this period are best illustrated by Slade's Case . Under the medieval common law, claims seeking the repayment of a debt or other matters could only be pursued through

12544-423: The time hindered his chances. In January 1770, however, Lord Grafton's government began to fall, with Camden resigning on 17 January and Solicitor-General John Dunning, following him. George III appointed Lord North as Prime Minister, and North picked Charles Yorke as Lord Chancellor. Yorke's death on 20 January, after holding the position for less than three days, left several important legal positions within

12672-471: The university, Blackstone announced on 3 July 1753 his intentions to "no longer attend the Courts at Westminster, but to pursue my Profession in a Way more agreeable to me in all respects, by residing at Oxford [and] to engraft upon this Resolution a Scheme which I am told may be beneficial to the University as well as myself", which was to give a set of lectures on the common law – the first lectures of that sort in

12800-614: The various religions in the world. It depicts a narrator's walking dream through the buildings of various religions, which are all (other than Christianity) depicted in a negative light. This followed his election as a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford on 2 November 1743, and his call to the Bar by the Middle Temple on 28 November 1746. His call to the Bar saw Blackstone begin to alternate between Oxford and London, occupying chambers in Pump Court but living at All Souls College . As

12928-477: The works of Henry Finch , and related legal tracts. In addition to his formal studies, Blackstone published a collection of poetry which included the draft version of The Lawyer to his Muse , his most famous literary work. In 1743 he published Elements of Architecture and An Abridgement of Architecture , two treatises on the rules governing the art of construction. His next work (1747) was The Pantheon: A Vision , an anonymously published book of poetry covering

13056-447: The world of letters", and his legal practice grew as a result. Although not considered a great barrister of the period, he maintained a steady flow of cases, primarily in the King's Bench and Exchequer of Pleas . On the death of the third Earl of Abingdon , Blackstone was retained as counsel for the executors and trustees to oversee the family's attempts to pay off debts and meet other obligations. On 5 May 1761 he married Sarah Clitherow,

13184-424: The world. This was not entirely out of benevolence; according to Prest, Blackstone was likely aware that an Oxford alumnus, Charles Viner , was planning to endow a professorship of English law. The Regius Professorship of Civil Law had also become vacant in 1753; despite support from Lord Mansfield , Blackstone had been rejected in favour of Robert Jenner, widely considered Blackstone's lesser intellectually but

13312-480: Was "heartburning" between the two; Bentham's account is considered dubious because historically, Mansfield and Blackstone had an excellent relationship, with the third volume of the Commentaries describing Mansfield as "a judge, whose masterly acquaintance with the law of nations was known and revered by every state in Europe". There is only one recorded King's Bench case, R v Proprietors of Birmingham Canal Navigation , in which Blackstone and Mansfield disagreed. In

13440-527: Was able to remain at Charterhouse as a "poor scholar", having been named to that position in June 1735 after being nominated by Sir Robert Walpole . Blackstone revelled in Charterhouse's academic curriculum, particularly the Latin poetry of Ovid and Virgil. He began to attract note as a poet at school, writing a 30-line set of rhyming couplets to celebrate the wedding of James Hotchkis , the headmaster. He also won

13568-427: Was an English jurist , justice and Tory politician most noted for his Commentaries on the Laws of England , which became the best-known description of the doctrines of the English common law . Born into a middle-class family in London, Blackstone was educated at Charterhouse School before matriculating at Pembroke College, Oxford , in 1738. After switching to and completing a Bachelor of Civil Law degree, he

13696-501: Was an infrequent and "indifferent" speaker during his first session of Parliament, speaking only 14 times in seven years. His chosen career did lend him to politics, in that the lawyers in the House of Commons were often added to select committees to provide them with technical expertise in drafting legislation. He again applied for a judicial post in December 1762, after an opening in the Exchequer of Pleas came up, but lost to George Perrott,

13824-431: Was assumed to already be in the court's custody and presence in court was not needed. Thus a legal fiction arose; if A wished to sue B for trespass, debt and detinue, he would have a writ issued for trespass. B would be arrested as a result, and the covenant, detinue and debt actions undertaken by bill after he had been detained. Eventually it became even more fictitious; if A wished to sue B merely for debt and detinue,

13952-420: Was born on 10 July 1723, five months after Charles' death in February. Although Charles and Mary Blackstone were members of the middle class rather than landed gentry, they were particularly prosperous. Tax records show Charles Blackstone to have been the second most prosperous man in the parish in 1722, and death registers show that the family had several servants. This, along with Thomas Bigg's assistance to

14080-468: Was buried in the family vault under St Peter's Church, Wallingford . As his estate at his death was worth less than £15,000, William Eden secured a £400 annual royal pension for Sarah Blackstone. The initial reaction to Blackstone's death was subdued, but in December 1780 the Fellows of All Souls College agreed that "a Statue be erected to the memory of Sr W Blackstone deceased". Constructed by John Bacon ,

14208-450: Was confirmed as the first Vinerian Professor of English Law , immediately embarking on another series of lectures and publishing a similarly successful second treatise, titled A Discourse on the Study of the Law . With his growing fame, he successfully returned to the bar and maintained a good practice, also securing election as Tory Member of Parliament for the rotten borough of Hindon on 30 March 1761. In November 1765 he published

14336-449: Was customary to speak of the "twelve justices" of the three courts, not distinguishing them, and assize cases were shared equally between them. In 1828, Henry Brougham complained that: [t]he jurisdiction of the Court of King's Bench, for example, was originally confined to pleas of the Crown, and then extended to actions where violence was used – actions of trespass, by force; but now, all actions are admissible within its walls, through

14464-404: Was eventually reached in the 17th century until the merger in 1873. The King's Bench's jurisdiction initially covered a wide range of criminal matters, any business not claimed by the other courts, and any cases concerning the monarch. Until 1830, the King's Bench acted as a court of appeal for the Exchequer of Pleas and Common Pleas, and required Parliament to sign off on its decisions. From 1585,

14592-429: Was fixed at 3. Provisions for a fourth were established in 1830, and a fifth in 1868. Following the dissolution of the Court of King's Bench, the remaining Justices because Justices of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice. Justices were originally paid £26 a year, increasing to £66 in 1361, and £100 in 1389. An ordinance of 1645 increased this to £1,000, with the salary peaking at £5,500 in 1825. As with

14720-476: Was instead due to political and judicial disagreement, with Yates unwilling to stomach the changes which Mansfield made to English law. Blackstone sat regularly as a judge, despite bouts of ill health, and also served on various circuit courts. Prest describes him as an "exceptionally careful, conscientious and well-respected judge ... his judgments ranging between narrowly framed technicalities [and] broad statements of public commentary". He was, however, considered

14848-530: Was later repeated by Lord Denning in Falmouth Boat Construction Co v Howell in 1950. Blackstone had long suffered from gout , and by November 1779 also had a nervous disorder which caused dizziness , high blood pressure, and possibly diabetes . By 3 February 1780 he was too weak to write, and after "some Days almost totally insensible", he died on 14 February at age 56. After a service conducted by Bishop Barrington on 22 February, Blackstone

14976-458: Was made a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford , on 2 November 1743, admitted to Middle Temple , and called to the Bar there in 1746. Following a slow start to his career as a barrister, Blackstone became heavily involved in university administration, becoming accountant, treasurer and bursar on 28 November 1746 and Senior Bursar in 1750. Blackstone is considered responsible for completing the Codrington Library and Warton Building, and simplifying

15104-408: Was not a dedicated court of law, instead a descendant of the curia ducis and partly of the witenagemot . In concert with the curia regis , eyre circuits staffed by itinerant judges dispensed justice throughout the country, operating on fixed paths at certain times. These judges were also members of the curia , and would hear cases on the King's behalf in the "lesser curia regis ". Because

15232-583: Was paid £200 by the Prince, who became an "appreciative, loyal, and soon to be incomparably influential patron". This patronage, and Blackstone's purchase of a set of chambers in the Inner Temple , also transferring to that Inn, were significant steps in his departure from Oxford. In 1759 Blackstone published another two works, The Great Charter and the Charter of the Forest, with other authentic Instruments , described as

15360-603: Was probably still followed in 1738, so Blackstone would have studied Greek , science, logic, rhetoric, philosophy, mathematics, geography and poetry. Blackstone was particularly good at Greek, mathematics and poetry, with his notes on William Shakespeare being included in George Steevens ' 1781 edition of Shakespeare's plays. Many of Blackstone's undergraduate texts survive, and they include few legal texts, instead being wide-ranging; politics, current affairs, poetry, geometry and controversial theological texts. The last element

15488-453: Was published in November 1765, bringing the author £1,600 – the full work would eventually bring in over £14,000. Owen Ruffhead described Volume I as "masterly", noting that "Mr Blackstone is perhaps the first who has treated the body of the law in a liberal, elegant and constitutional manner. A vein of good sense and moderation runs through every page". Every copy was sold within six months, and

15616-551: Was replaced by Lord Selborne in September 1872, a second bill was introduced after consultation with the judiciary; although along the same lines, it was far more detailed. The Act, passed as the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 , merged the Common Pleas, Exchequer, Queen's Bench and Court of Chancery into one body, the High Court of Justice , with the divisions between the courts to remain. The Queen's Bench thus ceased to exist, holding its last session on 6 July 1875, except as

15744-515: Was reprinted until after the Second World War . The first American edition was produced in 1772; prior to this, over 1,000 copies had already been sold in the Thirteen Colonies. Even after the publication of the Commentaries , Blackstone's chances of judicial appointment remained slim. While he was old enough, experienced enough and widely respected, the presence of Lord Camden as Lord Chancellor and Blackstone's lack of aristocratic patrons at

15872-522: Was seven years long, the first two "supposedly devoted to a broad course of reading in humane studies", which allowed him to study his own interests. On 20 November 1741 he was admitted to the Middle Temple , the first step on the road to becoming a barrister , but this imposed no obligations and simply allowed a legal career to be an option. At the time there was no proper legal education system, and Blackstone read (in his own time) Coke on Littleton ,

16000-501: Was the Common Pleas or King's Bench. In 1178, a chronicler recorded that when Henry II : learned that the land and the men of the land were burdened by so great a number of justices, for there were, eighteen, chose with the counsel of the wise men of his Kingdom five only, two clerks three and laymen, all of his private family, and decreed that these five should hear all complaints of the Kingdom and should do right and should not depart from

16128-608: Was the fourth and posthumous son of Charles Blackstone, a silk mercer from Cheapside , the son of a wealthy apothecary . He became firm friends with Thomas Bigg, a surgeon and the son of Lovelace Bigg, a gentleman from Wiltshire . After Bigg's sister Mary came to London, Charles eventually persuaded her to marry him in 1718. This was not seen as a good match for her, but the couple lived happily and had four sons, three of whom lived into adulthood. Charles (born August 1719) and Henry (May 1722), both became fellows of New College, Oxford , and took holy orders . Their last son, William,

16256-520: Was the most senior judge in the superior courts, having superiority over the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and Chief Baron of the Exchequer , and from 1612 the Master of the Rolls . Unlike other Chief Justices, who were appointed to serve "during the King's Pleasure", the appointment as Chief Justice of the King's Bench "did not usually specify any particular tenure". This practice ended in 1689, when all of

16384-401: Was urged by Fairfax J in 1501 to develop new remedies so that "subpoenas would not be used as often as they are at present". From 1500 the King's Bench began reforming to increase its business and jurisdiction, with the tide finally turning in their favour by 1550. The recovery of the King's Bench was thanks to its use of Chancery-like procedure; centrally, the system of bills. Prior to this,

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