Page:Marvin, Legal Bibliography, 1847.djvu/138

 BLA which is drawn only from the sterling treasury of the sciences, he has decked her out, however, to advantage, from the toilet of classic erudi- tion; enlivened her with metaphors and allusions, and sent her abroad, in some measure to instruct, and in still greater measure to entertain, the most miscellaneous, and even the most fastidious societies." Bentham's Frag, on Government, 89. " Blackstone's knowledge of English history was rather superficial." Hallam's Middle Ages, ch. 8. " A good gentleman's law book, clear but not deep." Home Tooke. ' "The Commentaries contain a thousand sophistries dangerous to the principles which every citizen of our free republic ought, and every pro- fessor of our laws is sworn to maintain." Sampson on Codes and Com. Law, 6. " Blackstone is a feeble reasoner and a confused thinker." Mackin- tosh's Ethical Philosophy, 187. In questions upon Constitutional Law, Blackstone is not authority. Cartwright's Constitution, 29 ; Fox, 6 Cobbett's Pari. Deb. 314, contra ; Story's Inaugural Address, 59. " Blackstone's opinions on the criminal law, as contained in his Com- mentaries, are to be regarded as the offspring of an eager rather than a well informed mind." Ld. Eldon, 1 Jurist, 459, n. Gives a brief but a trifling account of Equity Jurisprudence. 1 Mad. Chancery Pref. 19. Not authority. 1 Scho. & Lef. 327 ; Peck's Trial, 303 ; Ritso's Law Education, 33. Good authority. "The Commentaries are still quoted, and as fre- quently as ever, in the Courts of Law and Equity; if possible, Avith increased respect for the value of Blackstone's opinions, and of the evi- dence which his pages afford, of the former state of the law." Warren's Law Studies, 776; 4 Durn. & East, 311 ; American Reports, passim. General references — Williams' Study of the Law, 92 ; Bever's Legal Polity, 474; 1 Kent, 512; 4 do. 209; Trotter's Memoirs of Fox, 612; 3 London Jurist, 106; Wooddeson's Elements, 189; Hoffman's Legal Study, 152; Ruggles' Barrister, 187; Wright's Study of the Law, 59 ; Amos' Introductory Lecture, 19 ; 1 Selwin's N. P. 45 n. ; 12 A. J. 9. BLACKSTONE, SIR WILLIAM. Reports in K. B. and C. P., from 1746 to 1779 ; with numerous additional notes, references, and an entire new and copious index, by C. H. Elsley. 2 vols. 8vo. London. 1828. With respect to these reports, as they neither possess nor claim any other merit than that of fidelity and accuracy, so they are neither much better nor much worse than any other reports. The cases that compose the first volume commence with the reporter's admission to the bar, 126