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(This article is about Sir William Blackstone, the English jurist. Blackstone is also the name of several
places; see Blackstone)
Sir William Blackstone, (1723 - 1780 was an English jurist and
professor who produced the historical treatise on the common law called
Commentaries on the Laws of
England, first published in four volumes over 1765 - 1769.
Blackstone was educated at Pembroke College at
Oxford University. In 1743
he was made a fellow of All Souls College,
Oxford, and he was called to the bar as a barrister in 1746. After practising in the courts
of Westminster for several years, he returned to Oxford in 1758 when another lawyer, Charles Viner, established an endowed chair at the university for a lecturer in law. Viner's endowed
chair became known as the Vinerian professorship, and it continues to exist to the present day.
In addition to the Commentaries, Blackstone published treatises on Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest. In 1761 he was elected a Member of
Parliament for Hindon and "took the silk"
as king's counsel.
Blackstone and his work are occasionally mentioned in literature. For
example, Blackstone is mentioned in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.
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