Description
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Re-Interpreting Blackstones Commentaries: A Seminal Text in National and International Contexts 2014 by Edited by Emeritus Professor Wilfrid Prest
This collection explores the remarkable impact and continuing influence of William Blackstones Commentaries on the Laws of England from the works original publication in the 1760s down to the present. Contributions by legal and literary scholars cultural and intellectual historians trace the manner in which this truly seminal text has established its authority well beyond the authors native shores or his own limited lifespan. Following an editorial introduction in the first section Reading Blackstone Kathryn Temple Cristina Martinez and Michael Meehan discuss the Commentaries aesthetic and literary qualities as factors contributing to the works unique status in Anglo-American legal culture. The second section considers the nature and dimensions of Blackstones impact in various non-English jurisdictions: Quebec (Michel Morin) Louisiana (John W Cairns) North Carolina (John V Orth) and Australasia (Wilfrid Prest). Horst Dippel and Paul Halliday then examine aspects of Blackstones constitutional and political ideas. Finally Jessie Allen provides a personal account of Reading Blackstone in the Twenty-First Century and the Twenty-First Century through Blackstone. This volume is a sequel to the well-received collection Blackstone and his Commentaries: Biography Law History (Hart Publishing 2009).