Blackstone as historian

Abstract

William Blackstone’s enormously influential Commentaries on the Laws of England (first published 1765–69, and never subsequently out of print) sought to provide an authoritative, coherent and comprehensive outline of ‘the elements of the law and the grounds of our civil ‘polity’. While the Commentaries does not purport to be a work of history as such, Blackstone conceptualised his subject as a study in change over time. This paper explores his view of English history with special reference to the Civil War and Interregnum, and his claims to be taken more seriously as an historian than has hitherto been the case.