Blackstone's Commentaries
by St. George Tucker
St. George Tucker was a Virginia jurist and former student of George Wythe. When he was Professor of Law and Police at the College of William & Mary, Tucker used William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England as his primary text.[1] While Tucker considered Blackstone the best treatise to use for learning the common law, he thought it had some important weaknesses as a teaching tool for American law.[2] None of the editions of Blackstone published in the United States actually discussed new legal developments there; they just reprinted Blackstone's discussions of English law.[3] Tucker also felt that Blackstone's sympathy with the power of the Crown over that of Parliament would be a poor influence for a student of American legal principles.[4] Therefore, Tucker wrote marginalia in his copy of Blackstone and read them to his classes, and added lectures on Virginian and United States federal law and comparing the American political system with its British counterpart.[5]
In 1795, at the urging of several friends, including former Virginia governor John Page, Tucker began investigating the possibility of publishing his written works, including an edition of Blackstone with his notes and with his lectures from William & Mary added as appendixes.[6] After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to find a printer, Tucker reached an agreement with the Philadelphia firm of Birch and Small, which paid Tucker $4000 for the book's copyright.[7] "Tucker's Blackstone" was organized into five volumes. Each volume would begin with Blackstone's original text, with notes from Tucker added, followed by an appendix containing Tucker's lectures and writings on particular subjects.[8] Blackstone's text was mostly arranged the same way as in the original version, but Tucker organized the appendixes to show what he felt the most important developments in American law were.[9]
Tucker's Blackstone sold well from the beginning,[10] and it quickly became the major treatise on American law in the early 19th century.[11] Law reporter Daniel Call described it as "necessary to every student and practitioner of law in Virginia".[12] Lawyers arguing before the Supreme Court of the United States would frequently cite to Tucker's Blackstone - more often than any other commentator until 1827.[13] The U.S. Supreme Court itself cited Tucker's Blackstone frequently, referring to it in over forty cases, many of them significant.[14] Modern lawyers, legal scholars, and judges still refer to this work as an important tool for determining how Americans understood both English and American law in the early days after the United States's independence.[15]
Description of The Wolf Law Library's Copy
The library owns a copy of the 1803 (first) edition published in Philadelphia by William Young Birch and Abraham Small. The fives volumes are bound in contemporary calf and rebacked in matching period style, retaining the original red and black morocco gilt-lettered spine labels. Gilt ruling decorates the spine. Contemporary marginalia may be found throughout the volumes. The front free endpaper of the first volume has the signature of the well-known North Carolina author, lawyer, and historian 'F.A. Sondley, Asheville, N.C., Sept. 28, 1887.' The upper margin of the first volume's title page states, 'Commenced the study of Law, the night of the 22nd March 1848.'
References
- ↑ Paul Finkelman and David Cobin, "An Introduction to St. George Tucker's Blackstone's Commentaries," in St. George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries (1803; repr., Union, N.J.: Lawbook Exchange, 1996), 1:x.
- ↑ Finkelman and Cobin, "Introduction to Tucker's Blackstone," 1:x.
- ↑ Finkelman and Cobin, "Introduction to Tucker's Blackstone," 1:i.
- ↑ Davison M. Douglas,"Foreword: The Legacy of St. George Tucker," 47 William and Mary Law Review (2006), 1113.
- ↑ Charles T. Cullen, St. George Tucker and Law in Virginia, 1772-1804 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1987), 121,123-126.
- ↑ Cullen, "St. George Tucker and Law in Virginia," 157.
- ↑ Cullen, "St. George Tucker and Law in Virginia," 157-160.
- ↑ Cullen, "St. George Tucker and Law in Virginia," 161.
- ↑ Cullen, "St. George Tucker and Law in Virginia," 161.
- ↑ Cullen, "St. George Tucker and Law in Virginia," 160-161.
- ↑ Douglas, "Legacy of St. George Tucker," 1114.
- ↑ 8 Va. (4 Call) xxviii (1833)
- ↑ Cullen, "St. George Tucker and Law in Virginia," 162-163.
- ↑ Finkelman and Cobin, "Introduction to Tucker's Blackstone," 1:v-vi.
- ↑ Finkelman and Cobin, "Introduction to Tucker's Blackstone," 1:i-ii, v-vi.
