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The law, which restrains a man from doing mischief to his fellow citizens, though it diminishes the natural, increases the civil liberty of mankind.

William Blackstone

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William Blackstone
Age: 56 †
Born: 1723
Born: July 10
Died: 1780
Died: February 14
Barrister
Judge
Jurist
Politician
University Teacher
Writer
the City
Sir William Blackstone
Increase
Restrains
Citizens
Diminishes
Mankind
Mischief
Liberty
Increases
Law
Diminish
Though
Fellow
Natural
Civil
Men
Fellows

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There is nothing which so generally strikes the imagination and engages the affections of mankind, as the right of property.
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That the king can do no wrong is a necessary and fundamental principle of the English constitution.
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The sciences are of a sociable disposition, and flourish best in the neighborhood of each other nor is there any branch of learning but may be helped and improved by assistance drawn from other arts.
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If [the legislature] will positively enact a thing to be done, the judges are not at liberty to reject it, for that were to set the judicial power above that of the legislature, which would be subversive of all government.
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Man must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator. This will of his Maker is called the Law of Nature. This Law of Nature is superior to any other. No human laws are of any validity if contrary to this.
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Men was formed for society, and is neither capable of living alone, nor has the courage to do it.
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Free men have arms slaves do not.
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Punishments of unreasonable severity, especially where indiscriminately afflicted, have less effect in preventing crimes, and amending the manners of a people, than such as are more merciful in general, yet properly intermixed with due distinctions of severity.
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Trial by jury is a privilege of the highest and most beneficial nature [and] our most important guardian both of public and private liberty. The liberties of England cannot but subsist so long as this palladium remains sacred and inviolate, not only from all open attacks, ... but also from all secret machinations, which may sap and undermine it.
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The Bible has always been regarded as part of the Common Law of England.
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Man..must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is entirely a dependent being..And, consequently, as man depends absolutely upon his Maker for everything, it is necessary that he should in all points conform to his Maker's will.
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Gaming is a kind of tacit confession that the company engaged therein do in general exceed the bounds of their respective fortunes, and therefore they cast lots to determine upon whom the ruin shall at present fall, that the rest may be saved a little longer.
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The husband and wife are one, and that one is the husband.
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So great moreover is the regard of the law for private property, that it will not authorize the least violation of it no, not even for the general good of the whole community.
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The third absolute right, inherent in every Englishman, is that of . . . the sacred and inviolable rights of private property.
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Mankind will not be reasoned out of the feelings of humanity.
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Herein indeed consists the excellence of the English government, that all parts of it form a mutual check upon each other.
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No outward doors of a man's house can in general be broken open to execute any civil process though in criminal cases the public safety supersedes the private.
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The public good is in nothing more essentially interested, than in the protection of every individual's private rights.
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Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws.
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