Legal writers : Sir William Blackstone / Wilfrid Prest.

Brisbane : Supreme Court Library Queensland 2016.

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Sir William Blackstone (1723–80) wrote the most famous and influential treatise on Anglo-American-Australian common law—the four volume Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–69)—but he was also a major figure in 18th century public, academic and cultural life. -- Orphaned at the age of 11, Blackstone won scholarships to Charterhouse and then to Pembroke College, Oxford. By the age of 20, his academic efforts had been rewarded with a fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford. After being called to the Bar at the Middle Temple (one of London’s four inns of court) in 1746, he commenced practice at the Bar, but not with any great initial success. -- At this point, Blackstone made the novel decision to prepare a set of lectures on the laws of England, to be given to students at Oxford. Blackstone’s were the first lectures on English common law to be given at a university anywhere in the world. Although offered as a private fee-paying addition to the formal university curriculum, his lectures soon acquired a national and even international reputation. -- After returning to the London Bar, more successfully this time, Blackstone spent the last ten years of his life as a busy judge and would-be penal reformer.

Open access

Emeritus Professor Wilfrid Prest, 'Legal writers: Sir William Blackstone', 2016 Selden Society Lecture 3 given at the Banco Court, Brisbane, 19 May 2016

1 online video sound, colour