Evening star., 1937-01-24
Blackstone: A Chance
for a Biographer.
BY FREDERIC J. RASKIN.

veloped among the English speaking
world renewed taste for biography, al
though one of the most influential in
dividuals Of modern history has not be-
come the subject of such a work; the
second is that. at this period of the year,
some law schools graduate young men
and women who have completed their
studies in the realm of law.
1t has been widely commented upon
that the legal profession is overcrowded
and that. even though bar examinations
be passed. cum laude, the aspiring solici-
tor and advocate must go through a diff
cult apprenticeship before reaching a
point at which he can call himself
capable Of earning a reasonable living.
1t might be possible that some one or
more of these new-fedged lawyers take
advantage of the wide-open opportunity
to write biography of Sir William
Blackstone, the Vinerian professor of
oxford University whose lectures after
wards we're handed down to posterity
and, more especially, the legal profess
sion, as "Blackstone's Commentaries"
1t seems a strange thing that man
who has exercised so great an effect
has instructed so many scores of thou
sands of lawyers in the fundamentals of
their profession should have so COM
pletely failed of any one to tell his story.
There are, of course. more or less brief
entries in encyclopedias concerning the
man, but, as Homer H. Cooper of the
Chicago Bar recently pointed out, no
competent life of the man, telling about
who he was, not merely as an oxford
lecturer, but as a human being. The
mere fact that the rules Of law which
he laid down have been recognized as
proper rules for the governing Of al
most the entire gauntlet of human con-
duct suggests that he must have been
fairly humanized man himself.
With such breach in the library OF
biography it seems that some young
lawyer might almost overnight find him
self in favored position by producing
an accurate and readable book about the
great English lawgiver. Here, it might
be said. is sort of double -barrelled op-
portunity, ready to the hand OF the
willing and capable man. Nor can it be
doubted that even if the young law
graduate failed to do a literary job so
excellent that it would be published and
receive the acclaim of the bar and the
public, the very process Of pursuing the
research which necessarily would precede
such a work, would have the effect of
rounding out his legal lore in a manner
that would enhance his opportunities for
practice and preferment.
The task of producing biography of
Sir William Blackstone should quite
properly fall to an American because
now, as always, Blackstone is more pro-
found influence in the United States
than in Great Britain. His Com
mentaries." indeed, were highly thought
of in England and constituted the foun-
dation of an otherwise unpromlsing
career in the law. But in America Black
stone was regarded as an oracle. The
reason for this is believed to be the fact
that, especially in Colonial America,
there were few law books, and none so
compendious and Illuminating. AS
American law was founded on the
British. especially the British common
law, Blackstone became the primary
source.
It is especially interesting to note that,
up until 1928, there was no statue of Sir
William in England. In 1924 members
of the American Bar Association were
the guests of the British Bar Association.
AS a mark of appreciation Of the hos
pitality accorded them, the Americans
commissioned marble statue Of the
great jurist. The statue was not finished
until 1928. 1t now stands in the great
hall of the Royal Courts of Justice.
There is, however. in England a con-
temporary portrait of Gainsborough.
X y
William Blackstone was born in Cheap
side in London, the son of silk mer.
chant of moderate means. From Char
terhouse he went to Pembroke College at
oxford at the age of Is, and when but
l8 was entered at the Middle Temple.
When but 81 he was elected a fellow
OF All Souls. Two years later he was
called to the bar. 1t seems somewhat
odd that, with such promising start,
he made no mark there. He waited for
years for briefs, but obtained few and
supported himself from the perqulsltes
of some minor appointments, in the ma
ture of sinecures, which he had been able
to procure.
So discouraged was he that he decided
to return to oxford. He received no
regular professorship but. in 1858, began
in a rather informal way to read lee
lures. His first lecture was to hand
full. So brilliant was it that his second
one was addressed to a jammed hall.
That was the turn of the tide for him.
The style of the lectures was new and
refreshing beyond anything law students
of the day had known. Dropping the
cramped and medieval forms which had
been followed before, he lectured in
literary manner not only on what the
law was but on what it meant. He
showed its historical bases and the man.
ner of its evolution. In a woro, ne
made what had been considered an eX-
eeedingly dull subject highly interesting.
almost entertaining. The 30-year-old
law lecturer proved a revelation.
*k
On the death of Charles Viner that
rather musty student bequeathed
sum of money to oxford for the estab-
lishment of a professorship and 1t was
inevitable that Blackstone, whose repu-
tation now was firmly established, should
receive the appointment. His salary was
81 600 a wear. He retained this profess
sorship for some years and received other
lucrative appointments, but his chief
wealth arose from the publication of the
Vinerian lectures as the Commentaries"
During his lifetime seven editions were
printed, bringing him royalties OF $4,000.
That sum. in those days, would be the
equal of probably $500 900 today.
Then too with the reputation he had