Frasi di Sir William Blackstone

William Blackstone è stato un giurista e accademico britannico, professore presso l'Università di Oxford dal 1758 al 1766.

Figlio di un commerciante di seta, effettuò gli studi ad Oxford, presso il Pembroke College e divenne in seguito barrister nel 1746, professione che esercitò presso le Corti di Westminster per alcuni anni senza ottenere significativi successi. Fu membro della Camera dei Comuni dal 1761 fino al 1770 per il borough dell'Hindon e ricoprì l'incarico di giudice.

Noto per aver scritto il celebre trattato storico-analitico sul common law Commentaries on the Laws of England, apparso per la prima volta in quattro volumi tra il 1765 e il 1769, fu autore prolifico. L'opera che gli diede maggiore notorietà ancor oggi rappresenta una fonte importante per le ricostruzioni degli orientamenti classici del common law e dei suoi principi. I Commentaries sono suddivisi in 4 parti:

Rights of Persons: dedicato alle persone fisiche e giuridiche;

Rights of Things: diritti reali;

Private Wrongs: organizza il restante diritto processuale civile;

Public Wrongs: diritto penale e processuale penale.

Blackstone scrisse i suoi lavori sul common law poco prima che venisse scritta la Costituzione degli Stati Uniti. Le stesse parole adoperate dai padri fondatori americani sono attinte dall'opera di Blackstone.

✵ 10. Luglio 1723 – 14. Febbraio 1780
Sir William Blackstone photo
Sir William Blackstone: 15   frasi 0   Mi piace

Sir William Blackstone: Frasi in inglese

“In this distinct and separate existence of the judicial power, in a peculiar body of men, nominated indeed, but not removable at pleasure, by the crown, consists one main preservative of the public liberty; which cannot subsist long in any state, unless the administration of common justice be in some degree separated both from the legislative and the also from the executive power.”

William Blackstone libro Commentaries on the Laws of England

Book I, ch. 7 http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/blackstone_bk1ch7.asp: Of the King's Prerogative.
Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769)
Contesto: In this distinct and separate existence of the judicial power, in a peculiar body of men, nominated indeed, but not removable at pleasure, by the crown, consists one main preservative of the public liberty; which cannot subsist long in any state, unless the administration of common justice be in some degree separated both from the legislative and the also from the executive power. Were it joined with the legislative, the life, liberty, and property of the subject would be in the hands of arbitrary judges, whose decisions would be then regulated only by their own opinions, and not by any fundamental principles of law; which, though legislators may depart from, yet judges are bound to observe. Were it joined with the executive, this union might soon be an overbalance for the legislative. For which reason... effectual care is taken to remove all judicial power out of the hands of the king's privy council; who, as then was evident from recent instances might soon be inclined to pronounce that for law, which was most agreeable to the prince or his officers. Nothing therefore is to be more avoided, in a free constitution, than uniting the provinces of a judge and a minister of state.

“Nothing therefore is to be more avoided, in a free constitution, than uniting the provinces of a judge and a minister of state.”

William Blackstone libro Commentaries on the Laws of England

Book I, ch. 7 http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/blackstone_bk1ch7.asp: Of the King's Prerogative.
Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769)
Contesto: In this distinct and separate existence of the judicial power, in a peculiar body of men, nominated indeed, but not removable at pleasure, by the crown, consists one main preservative of the public liberty; which cannot subsist long in any state, unless the administration of common justice be in some degree separated both from the legislative and the also from the executive power. Were it joined with the legislative, the life, liberty, and property of the subject would be in the hands of arbitrary judges, whose decisions would be then regulated only by their own opinions, and not by any fundamental principles of law; which, though legislators may depart from, yet judges are bound to observe. Were it joined with the executive, this union might soon be an overbalance for the legislative. For which reason... effectual care is taken to remove all judicial power out of the hands of the king's privy council; who, as then was evident from recent instances might soon be inclined to pronounce that for law, which was most agreeable to the prince or his officers. Nothing therefore is to be more avoided, in a free constitution, than uniting the provinces of a judge and a minister of state.

“Man was formed for society and is neither capable of living alone, nor has the courage to do it.”

William Blackstone libro Commentaries on the Laws of England

Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769)
Origine: Introduction, Section II: Of the Nature of Laws in General

“Time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary.”

William Blackstone libro Commentaries on the Laws of England

Book I, ch. 18 http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/blackstone_bk1ch18.asp: Of Corporations.
Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769)

“The royal navy of England hath ever been its greatest defense and ornament; it is its ancient and natural strength; the floating bulwark of our island.”

William Blackstone libro Commentaries on the Laws of England

Book I, ch. 13 http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/blackstone_bk1ch13.asp: Of the Military and Maritime States.
Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769)

“It is better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent suffer.”

William Blackstone libro Commentaries on the Laws of England

Book IV, ch. 27.
Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769)

“The founders of the English laws have with excellent forecast contrived, that no man should be called to answer to the king for any capital crime, unless upon the preparatory accusation of twelve or more of his fellow subjects, the grand jury: and that the truth of every accusation, whether preferred in the shape of indictment, information, or appeal, should afterwards be confirmed by the unanimous suffrage of twelve of his equals and neighbours, indifferently chosen, and superior to all suspicion. So that the liberties of England cannot but subsist, so long as this palladium remains sacred and inviolate, not only from all open attacks, (which none will be so hardy as to make) but also from all secret machinations, which may sap and undermine it; by introducing new and arbitrary methods of trial, by justices of the peace, commissioners of the revenue, and courts of conscience. And however convenient these may appear at first, (as doubtless all arbitrary powers, well executed, are the most convenient) yet let it be again remembered, that delays, and little inconveniences in the forms of justice, are the price that all free nations must pay for their liberty in more substantial matters; that these inroads upon this sacred bulwark of the nation are fundamentally opposite to the spirit of our constitution; and that, though begun in trifles, the precedent may gradually increase and spread, to the utter disuse of juries in questions of the most momentous concern.”

William Blackstone libro Commentaries on the Laws of England

Book IV, ch. 27 http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/blackstone_bk4ch27.asp: Of Trial, And Conviction.
Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769)

“That the king can do no wrong, is a necessary and fundamental principle of the English constitution.”

William Blackstone libro Commentaries on the Laws of England

Book III, ch. 17 http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/blackstone_bk3ch17.asp: Of Injuries Proceeding from, or Affecting, the Crown.
Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769)

“What they do, no authority upon earth can undo.”

William Blackstone libro Commentaries on the Laws of England

Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769)
Contesto: Book I, ch. 2 https://lonang.com/library/reference/tucker-blackstone-notes-reference/tuck-202/: Of the Parliament.

Autori simili

Charles Louis Montesquieu photo
Charles Louis Montesquieu 72
filosofo, giurista e storico francese
Francesco Bacone photo
Francesco Bacone 39
filosofo, politico e giurista inglese
Jeremy Bentham photo
Jeremy Bentham 13
filosofo e giurista inglese
Laurence Sterne photo
Laurence Sterne 31
scrittore britannico
Samuel Butler photo
Samuel Butler 17
scrittore britannico
Joseph Addison photo
Joseph Addison 9
politico, scrittore e drammaturgo britannico
Thomas Hobbes photo
Thomas Hobbes 29
filosofo britannico
Edmund Burke photo
Edmund Burke 23
politico, filosofo e scrittore britannico
Thomas Fuller photo
Thomas Fuller 33
storico britannico
Samuel Johnson photo
Samuel Johnson 17
critico letterario, poeta e saggista britannico