Black 39;s Law Dictionary Download
Manases Blakemore
The first edition was published in 1891 by West Publishing, with the full title A Dictionary of Law: containing definitions of the terms and phrases of American and English jurisprudence, ancient and modern, including the principal terms of international constitutional and commercial law, with a collection of legal maxims and numerous select titles from the civil law and other foreign systems. A second edition was published in 1910 as A Law Dictionary.[2] Black died in 1927 and future editions were titled Black's Law Dictionary.
The sixth and earlier editions of the book additionally provided case citations for the term cited, which was viewed by lawyers as its most useful feature, providing a useful starting point with leading cases. The invention of the Internet made legal research easier therefore many state- or circuit-specific case citations and outdated or overruled case citations were omitted from the seventh edition in 1999. The eighth edition introduced a unique system of perpetually updated case citations and cross-references to legal encyclopedias. The current edition is the twelfth, published in 2024.[3]
As many legal terms are derived from a Latin root word, the dictionary provides a pronunciation guide for such terms.[4] In addition, the applicable entries provide pronunciation transcriptions pursuant to those found among North American practitioners of law or medicine.
The second edition of Black's Law Dictionary, published in 1910, is now in the public domain and is widely reproduced online. References to case law are out-of-date, and that edition of the dictionary omits legal terms that have since come into use and does not reflect contemporary changes in how legal terms are used.[6]
The greatly expanded 11th edition, with new material on every page, is at once the most practical, comprehensive, scholarly, and authoritative law dictionary ever published. With clarity and rigor, it defines more than 55,000 law-related words and phrases, recording their historical and present-day nuances. This edition introduces 3,500 new terms, including accountability, anticipatory self-defense, cyber force, Islamic law, Jewish law, legal moralism, legal reasoning, moral equality, peacekeeping, remotely piloted warfare, right to rebel, and umbrella clause. The deluxe edition also includes a premium faux leather cover and thumb-cuts for fast look-ups.
Enter replacement volume, chapter and page numbers separated by commas. For example: Volume 2, Chapter 5, Pages 7, 12-19. Please limit requests to 25 pages or less. If you are located outside the United States or for more than 25 pages please contact Customer Service 1-800-328-4880.
The 7th and 8th editions of Black's Law Dictionary were the first edited by Bryan Garner. This review of the 8th edition of Black's Law Dictionary focuses on the approach taken by Garner in thoroughly revising the dictionary and places his work in the context of the recent history of legal dictionaries and lexicography.
"Well-known enough that it is recognizable simply by the name of its long-deceased creator, Black's is the most widely used law dictionary in the United States today. . . . [I]t has become the predominant American law dictionary." Sarah Yates, Black's Law Dictionary: The Making of an American Standard, 103 Law Libr. J. 175, 175 (2011).
The following member databases include historic editions of Black's Law Dictionary. Members must be logged in to jenkinslaw.org to access these databases. These databases are also available in the library.
Dictionary of Law Containing Definitions of the Terms and Phrases of American and English Jurisprudence, Ancient and Modern (1st ed.) [1891]
Available on HeinOnline. Also available on LLMC Digital.
Legal dictionaries are trustworthy sources used to look up unfamiliar terminology (including Latin words and phrases) that you encounter while conducting legal research or in your law school courses. The most commonly used legal dictionary in the United States is Black's Law Dictionary, but there are a number of other titles available.
Like all dictionaries, legal dictionaries provide brief definitions and pronunciations of words, but legal dictionaries often offer more. Definitions, for example, may be accompanied by citations to relevant primary law sources such as cases, which can jump-start your research in an unfamiliar area of law. Some legal dictionaries contain other useful material. Black's, for example, provides references to the West American Digest System under which case law related to certain defined terms may be found. The print version of Black's also offers some popular "extra" appendices, including a list of legal abbreviations, a reprint of the U.S. Constitution, and a "legal maxims" section that explains the meanings of certain established principles of law as expressed in Latin (e.g., Veritas est justitiae mater).
So, keep a legal dictionary handy as you begin your research. However, remember that legal dictionaries, like all secondary sources, do not contain official, authoritative pronouncements of the law. Rather, they repackage legal information in a way that is easy to understand.
Legal dictionaries work like all dictionaries. If you know the correct spelling of the word for which you are seeking a definition, the process is as straightforward as using any dictionary. Never think of a legal dictionary as a final stop in your research. While some, like Black's, are considered very trustworthy, remember that the definitions in a legal dictionary are not official, authoritative statements of the law.
The two most commonly used legal dictionaries are Black's Law Dictionary and Ballentine's Law Dictionary. Print copies of Black's are located on dictionary stands on the fourth and fifth floors.
In addition to providing a general definition of the legal term in question, legal dictionaries may also provide references to applicable primary law and other secondary sources containing more in-depth discussions of the term. For example, the entry for the legal term of art in Black's Law Dictionary contains a definition and references two Supreme Court opinions.
Although not technically a legal dictionary, Words and Phrases also provides definitions of legal terms. Whereas legal dictionaries provide definitions taken from a variety of sources, Words and Phrases provides definitions taken almost exclusively from court opinions. This resource can be invaluable in helping you determine a specific court's interpretation of a legal term.
Don't forget general dictionaries, which provide information about the etymology and use of a term in addition to the definition. The unabridged edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is considered the authoritative dictionary of the English language. Also available in the Law Library are Shorter Oxford English Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.
Advertiser: This ABA Journal Podcast is brought to you by Westlaw Next. Folder sharing in Westlaw Next enables you to tap into previous research across organizational boundaries like never before, saving you time from reinventing the wheel. Learn more at westlawnext.com.
Bryan A. Garner: Yes. Well, that was a word that I was unfamiliar with. It kept on coming up in things that I was reading, and then I found out that an assistant U.S. attorney in New York named David Lat had coined that and a few other words, but it was making its way on the blogs all the time, and so I decided to include it.
It strikes me as being a useful one, and if nothing else, a warning to the user of the dictionary that this is a rather low or jocular term. It is not a term generally used in first-rate print sources.
Bryan A. Garner: Right. Well, also a neologism comes about because it does pithily express an idea for which we had no other term for, and so expression does tend to become more and more economical.
Black, Henry Campbell. A Law Dictionary. Containing Definitions of the Terms and Phrases of American and English Jurisprudence, Ancient and Modern, And Including the Principal Terms of International, Constitutional, Ecclesiastical and Commercial Law, and Medical Jurisprudence, with a Collection of Legal Maxims, Numerous Select Titles from the Roman, Modern Civil, Scotch, French, Spanish, and Mexican Law, and Other Foreign Systems, and a Table of Abbreviations. Originally published: St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing, 1910. 1314 pp. Reprinted 1995, 2018 by the Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 9781886363106; ISBN-10: 1886363102. Laminate hardcover. New. $195. * The second edition of Black's classic dictionary incorporates many new definitions and additional citations to decided cases, besides being a thorough revision of previous entries. Also included are many Latin and French terms overlooked in the first edition. Medical jurisprudence in particular is enriched, with new definitions for insanity and pathological and criminal insanity. The second edition (1910) is an essential complement to the first edition (1891) as it provides the scholar and student of law important insights into the rapid development of law at the turn of the century. The second edition is also notable for its revamped system of arrangement, with all compound and descriptive terms subsumed under their related main entries. Libraries, students, historians, and practitioners will all benefit from this historically significant research tool.
Black's Law Dictionary is probably the most widely used legal dictionary. The law library has a copy of the 10th edition in the Reserve Room. Older editions are located in the Treatises section. The call number is KF156 .B53.
The 11th edition of Black's Law Dictionary (2019) is now available at Jenkins. The 11th edition provides definitions for over 55,000 legal words and phrases. Library users can find the dictionary in print or from any of our four Westlaw computers.
c80f0f1006