Law in a Polite and Commercial Society: Smith’s “Lectures on Jurisprudence” and Blackstone’s “Commentaries”
ABSTRACT
This conference compared the legal theories of William Blackstone and Adam Smith. Both thinkers considered questions of the nature of law and its relationship to liberty at roughly the same period in history, but their approaches were often rather different. This exploration provided important insights into such topics as common law, property, penal law, inheritance, etc., as they affect questions of liberty and responsibility at both the personal and social levels.
READING LIST
From Liberty Fund
Lectures on Jurisprudence
by
By Adam Smith
Edited by R. L. Meek, D. D. Raphael, and P. G. Stein
Smith’s Lectures on Jurisprudence, originally delivered at the University of Glasgow in 1762–1763, presents his “theory of the rules by which civil government ought to be directed.” The chief purpose of government, according to Smith, is to preserve justice; and “the object of justice is security from injury.” The state…
Additional Readings
Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England: A Facsimile of the First Edition of 1765-1769, Volume 1: Of the Rights of Persons (1765). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979.
Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England, Volume II: Of the Rights of Things. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979.
Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England, Volume III: Of Private Wrongs. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1979.
Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England: Volume 4: Of Public Wrongs. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1979.