Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.
[Selden and Hale presented a reorientated vision of the common law, which focused on law as the product of positive imposition. They saw custom as a set of positive rules originating in the past, which had been developed by judicial argument in court. In their vision, the law of nature played a muted role, as a premise of the system rather than as a working tool. This vision proved a particularly influential one on common lawyers, as can be seen from an examination of the most important English jurist of the eighteenth century, Sir William Blackstone. Blackstone’s principal work, Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1969), was the fruit of his lectures at Oxford, and were designed to give an introduction to the law to the gentleman (see Lieberman 1989, chaps. 1–2). They were the best and most elegant overview yet written, and one which aimed to examine all aspects of law. Blackstone was more an expositor and summariser than a deep thinker, and his theoretical positions were often inconsistent. Nevertheless, the prevailing idiom of his work was that of Selden and Hale, both in his understanding of the nature of the constitution and in his views on the foundations and workings of the common law. At the same time that Blackstone was working, a different and less positivist view of law was being developed to the north of the border. There, the most important published jurist of the Scottish Enlightenment, Lord Kames, developed a theory which sought to answer questions left unanswered by Blackstone’s vision, on different premises.]
Published: Mar 13, 2015
Keywords: Eighteenth Century; Moral Sense; Political Society; Original Contract; Habeas Corpus
Read and print from thousands of top scholarly journals.
Already have an account? Log in
Bookmark this article. You can see your Bookmarks on your DeepDyve Library.
To save an article, log in first, or sign up for a DeepDyve account if you don’t already have one.
Copy and paste the desired citation format or use the link below to download a file formatted for EndNote
Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
All DeepDyve websites use cookies to improve your online experience. They were placed on your computer when you launched this website. You can change your cookie settings through your browser.