[Equine1952]

I’ve promised myself to read and study Blackstone because I have been convinced for a long time our forefathers drew a lot from his thinking. It’s still on my bucket list which is way down on the wife’s too do list. Being retired didn’t put more hours in my day dangit.

[CatoRenasci]

I read Blackstone’s Commentaries back in the late ‘70s when I was in law school. I found them fascinating and helpful, but I think one really needs a solid background in English history to understand Blackstone, and to understand how the Common Law evolved. There are some good books on the development of the Common Law, but other than Holmes’ fairly good little book, they’re pretty much for specialists and/or are hard to come by. Previously trained as an European historian (with an minor field in modern US history), I read several of them the Summer before I started law school. Helps also to have read Locke, Hume, and Montesquieu. Justice Storey’s edition of Blackstone in the 1820s is also useful in understanding how Common Law evolved in the US after the Revolution. ... sigh. It’s been far too long since I looked at this stuff.....