Sir William Blackstone and the Common Law

In this short tour de force on Sir William Blackstone and his pronomian legal hermeneutic, which sprang from a consistent biblical worldview, the reader learns much about the English (and American) common law and about its ultimate foundation upon the revealed law of biblical scripture. The book is organized exceedingly well, giving biographical information on William Blackstone (an ambitious, creative, and exceedingly bright and hardworking man who was born to a widow and orphaned at a young age, and who struggled with a lack of connections as an early adult but who became a legend in large part due to his sound analysis of the moral basis behind the English Common Law. Though the author uses the term "natural law" often, he does not use it in the pagan (i.e. Greco-Roman or humanist) way, but rather uses natural law to reflect the hardwiring of God's laws into nature, an acceptable use of it. It is unclear to what extent the author's views are Christian reconstructionist or Theonomic, but given the recognition of our nation's moral crisis underlying the law, it is clear that action must be taken to restore the faith once delivered and to repair the crumbling edifice of our nation's legal and moral foundation. This book, while brief, is an excellent step in accomplishing its task of inspiring the young to become "Blackstone lawyers" and put God's law into practice in this society once again, in defense of our nation's constitutional heritage.