William Blackstone

For his entry to History of Political Philosophy, Herbert J. Storing focuses his attention on William Blackstone; an 18^th century jurist who though his writing on the law was able to make a contribution to political philosophy. One of the first things that needs to be understood about Blackstone is that unlike many other legal theorists that came before him, he is not interested in some sort of idea of what the law is in general, but rather in the particular laws of England. In particular, his most famous work Commentaries on the Laws of England was aimed at two people in particular, the lawyer and the gentleman. Blackstone’s goal with the lawyer was to give the lawyer a knowledge of the first principles of the law. For the gentleman, Blackstone’s goal was to allow him to know what the laws were so that he would no longer act out of ignorance. Blackstone also makes heavy use of religion, seeing law and religion as two methods of making people better.

His book is divided into two parts. The first part is called “Rights,” while the second part is called “Wrongs.” From this, each part is then further divided into two books each. The first book of the first part (Book I) is called “Rights of Persons” while the second book of the first part (Book II) is called “Rights of Things.” The first book of the second part (Book III) is called “Private Wrongs” while the second book of the second part (Book IV) is called “Public Wrongs.”

Book I addresses the absolute rights of individuals and sees the first and primary end of human laws being the maintenance of these rights. The rest of Book I addresses the idea of relative rights, which are secondary and related to legally established relations with other people. It should be noted that Blackstone sees wrongs as the privatization of right. Book III addresses how the law takes action against private wrongdoing while Book IV examines how political society is a way of protecting individual rights while also treating political society as an end.

Much like Hobbes, for Blackstone, the foundation of society is rooted in the wants and fears of individuals. Law is thus seen as a balancing act between a government powerful enough to protect individual rights while not so powerful as to pose a threat to those individual rights as that is ultimately what individuals want. Blackstone also thinks the law should be able to take into account the particulars of an individual case (example, in the case of justifiable homicide) and also contain within it checks and balances. Ultimately, Blackstone roots his conception of law in natural law and sees this as the final check on political power as no person can really go against it.

Blackstone sees the origins of political society as being rooted in anarchy while it as a tendency to go towards tyranny. It is thus the task of law to strive to balance between the two. Furthermore, Blackstone thinks that in dealing with the particulars of an individual case, a move towards custom is advised. This gives him a strong conservative bent, and his arguments often come down more towards authority than reason and justice, particularly in regards to James II and his dealings with Parliament. Though there may be a temptation to dismiss Blackstone because of this, it should be noted that Blackstone is essentially looking for a framework in which legal practice can be done. 

Blackstone then goes onto great lengths to explain the old laws, including those that make no sense in an effort to preserve them and with them the laws that still matter a great deal. By doing this, Blackstone is using the old to support the new. This is not to say Blackstone is completely opposed to reform, as his is like a proto-Burke in many ways as while he recognizes the need to reform, he also understands that excessive questioning can undermine the entire system and thereby make reform impossible. His move towards conservatism also makes him a supporter of property rights as he sees property rights as a natural good doing three important things for society. These things are as follows: 1) having a civilizing effect, 2) having a connection to hierarchy, and 3) having the ability to produce liberty.