The Online Library of Liberty

1 The Online Library of LibertyA Project Of Liberty Fund, William Blackstone,Commentaries on the Laws ofEngland in Four Books, vol. 1[1753]The Online Library Of LibertyThis E-Book (PDF format) is published by Liberty Fund, Inc., a private,non-profit, educational foundation established in 1960 to encourage study of the idealof a society of free and responsible individuals. 2010 was the 50th anniversary year ofthe founding of Liberty is part of the Online Library of Liberty web , whichwas established in 2004 in order to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, find out more about the author or title, to use the site's powerful search engine, tosee other titles in other formats (HTML, facsimile PDF), or to make use of thehundreds of essays, educational aids, and study guides, please visit the OLL web title is also part of the Portable Library of Liberty DVD which contains over1,000 books and quotes about Liberty and power, and is available free of charge cuneiform inscription that appears in the logo and serves as a design element inall Liberty Fund books and web sites is the earliest-known written appearance of theword freedom (amagi), or Liberty .

2 It is taken from a clay document written about2300 in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash, in present day find out more about Liberty Fund, Inc., or the Online Library of Liberty Project,please contact the Director FUND, Allison Pointe Trail, Suite 300 Indianapolis, Indiana 46250-1684 Edition Used:Commentaries on the Laws of England in Four Books. Notes selected from theeditions of Archibold, Christian, Coleridge, Chitty, Stewart, Kerr, and others, BarronField s Analysis, and Additional Notes, and a Life of the Author by GeorgeSharswood. In Two Volumes.(Philadelphia: Lippincott Co., 1893). Vol. 1 -Books I & :Sir William BlackstoneEditor:George SharswoodOnline Library of Liberty : Commentaries on the Laws of England in Four Books, vol.

3 1 PLL (generated September, 2011)2 This Title:A two volume edition of the classic work on English law by Blackstone. This editionis interesting because it includes the commentaries of at least 5 previous editors ofBlackstone s work along with additional notes by Sharswood, the Chief Justice of theSupreme court of pennsylvania . Vol. 1 contains the Introduction to the Study of theLaws of England, Book I Of the Rights of Persons, and Book II The Rights of Library of Liberty : Commentaries on the Laws of England in Four Books, vol. 1 PLL (generated September, 2011)3 Liberty Fund: Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage thestudy of the ideal of a society of free and responsible Information:The text is in the public Use Statement:This material is put Online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material maybe used freely for educational and academic purposes.

4 It may not be used in any wayfor Library of Liberty : Commentaries on the Laws of England in Four Books, vol. 1 PLL (generated September, 2011)4 Library of Liberty : Commentaries on the Laws of England in Four Books, vol. 1 PLL (generated September, 2011)5 Of ContentsPreface By the American Memoir of Sir William Blackstone,Introduction. of the Study, Nature, and Extent of the Laws of I.: On the Study of the Law. Section II.: Of the Nature of Laws In III.: Of the Laws of IV.: Of the Countries Subject to the Laws of On the Laws of the First. of the Rights of I.: Of the Absolute Rights of II.: Of the III.: Of the King, and His IV.: Of the King s Royal V.: Of the Councils Belonging to the VI.: Of the King s VII.

5 : Of the King s VIII.: Of the King s IX.: Of Subordinate X.: Of the People, Whether Aliens, Denizens, Or XI.: Of the XII.: Of the Civil XIII.: Of the Military and Maritime XIV.: Of Master and XV.: Of Husband and XVI.: Of Parent and XVII.: Of Guardian and XVIII.: Of the Second. of the Rights of I.: Of Property, In II.: Of Real Property; And, First, of Corporeal HereditamentsChapter III.: Of Incorporeal IV.: Of the Feodal V.: Of the Ancient English TenuresChapter VI.: Of the Modern English VII.: Of Freehold Estates of VIII.: Of Freeholds, Not of IX.: Of Estates Less Than X.: Of Estates Upon XI.: Estates In Possession, Remainder, and XII.: Of Estates In Severalty, Joint-tenancy, Coparcenary, XIII.

6 : Of the Title to Things Real, In XIV.: Of Title By XV.: Of Title By Purchase and I. By Library of Liberty : Commentaries on the Laws of England in Four Books, vol. 1 PLL (generated September, 2011)6 XVI.: II. Of Title By XVII.: III. Of Title By XVIII.: IV. Of Title By XIX.: V. Of Title By XX.: Of Alienation By XXI.: Of Alienation By Matter of XXII.: Of Alienation By Special XXIII.: Of Alienation By XXIV.: Of Things XXV.: Of Property In Things XXVI.: Of Title to Things Personal By XXVII.: Of Title By Prerogative and XXVIII.: Of Title By XXIX.: Of Title By Succession, Marriage, and XXX.: Of Title By Gift, Grant, and XXXI.: Of Title By XXXII.: Of Title By Testament, and I.: Vetus Carta II.

7 : Modern Conveyance By Lease and III.: An Obligation, Or Bond, With Condition For the Payment of IV.: A Fine of Lands Sur Cognizance De Droit, Come Ceo, & V.: A Common Recovery of Lands With * Double according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by CHILDS & PETERSON,in the Clerk s office of the district court of the United States for the Eastern Districtof Library of Liberty : Commentaries on the Laws of England in Four Books, vol. 1 PLL (generated September, 2011)7 [Back to Table of Contents]PREFACE BY THE AMERICAN edition of the Commentaries of Sir William Blackstone has been preparedwith especial reference to the use of American law-students. The main object of thenotes, selected and original, has been to correct any statement in itself erroneous, andto explain what might be calculated to mislead.

8 In some cases where the text appearedto pass over important topics, they have been introduced in order to render the bookcomplete as an institute of legal education. Besides the editions of Archbold,Christian, and Chitty, which have been republished in this country, the editor hasdrawn largely upon the valuable notes of Mr. Justice Coleridge. The late Englisheditions by James Stewart and Robert Malcolm Kerr in which all the recentalterations by statutes have been referred to and incorporated have been freely used,and an occasional note will be found from the late abridgment of Blackstone bySamuel Warren; and the attention of the student is especially called to the notes addedto the last chapter of the work, on the rise, progress, and gradual improvement of thelaws of England, for valuable sketches by Coleridge, John William Smith, Stewart,Warren, and Kerr, of the latest enactments, to which the American editor has venturedto add some remarks upon American jurisprudence.

9 Barron Field s Analysis a mostimportant aid to the student in the work of self-examination has been added at theend. On the whole, it is hoped that this edition the fruit of much care and toil, asmuch in rejecting (which does not appear) as in adopting (which does) may meet theapprobation of the profession and the ,June. sheets contain the substance of a course of lectures on the Laws ofEngland, which were read by the author in the University of Oxford. His original plantook its rise in the year 1753; and, notwithstanding the novelty of such an attempt inthis age and country, and the prejudices usually conceived against any innovations inthe established mode of education, he had the satisfaction to find and heacknowledges it with a mixture of pride and gratitude that his endeavours wereencouraged and patronized by those, both in the university and out of it, whose goodopinion and esteem he was principally desirous to death of Mr.

10 Viner in 1756, and his ample benefactions to the university forpromoting the study of the law, produced about two years afterwards a regular andpublic establishment of what the author had privately undertaken. The knowledge ofour laws and constitution was adopted as a liberal science by general academicalauthority; competent endowments were decreed for the support of a lecturer and theperpetual encouragement of students; and the compiler of the ensuing Commentarieshad the honour to be elected the first Vinerian Library of Liberty : Commentaries on the Laws of England in Four Books, vol. 1 PLL (generated September, 2011)8 this situation he was led, both by duty and inclination, to investigate the elementsof the law and the grounds of our civil polity with greater assiduity and attention thanmany have thought it necessary to do.