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''Black's Law Dictionary'' is the most frequently used
legal dictionary A law dictionary (also known as legal dictionary) is a dictionary that is designed and compiled to give information about terms used in the field of law. Types Distinctions are made among various types of law dictionaries. Differentiating facto ...
in the United States.
Henry Campbell Black Henry Campbell Black (October 17, 1860 – March 19, 1927) was the founder of ''Black's Law Dictionary'', the definitive legal dictionary first published in 1891. Born in Ossining, New York Ossining may refer to: *Ossining (town), New York, a tow ...
(1860–1927) was the author of the first two editions of the dictionary.


History

The first edition was published in 1891 by
West Publishing West (also known by its original name, West Publishing) is a business owned by Thomson Reuters that publishes legal, business, and regulatory information in print, and on electronic services such as Westlaw. Since the late 19th century, West h ...
, 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''. 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 The invention of the Internet made legal research easier therefore many state- or circuit-specific case citations and outdated or overruled case citations were omitted from the seventh edition in 1999.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 eleventh, published in 2019. As many legal terms are derived from a
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
root word A root (or root word) is the core of a word that is irreducible into more meaningful elements. In morphology, a root is a morphologically simple unit which can be left bare or to which a prefix or a suffix can attach. The root word is the prima ...
, the dictionary provides a pronunciation guide for such terms. In addition, the applicable entries provide pronunciation transcriptions pursuant to those found among North American practitioners of law or medicine.


Availability

An online version of the tenth edition can be accessed through the paid
Westlaw Westlaw is an online legal research service and proprietary database for lawyers and legal professionals available in over 60 countries. Information resources on Westlaw include more than 40,000 databases of case law, state and federal statute ...
legal information service, and is available as an application for iOS devices. The second edition of ''Black's Law Dictionary'', published in 1910, is now in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
and is widely reproduced online. References to
case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of a l ...
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.


Bibliography

*''Black's Law Dictionary'' 11th ed. (
West Group West (also known by its original name, West Publishing) is a business owned by Thomson Reuters that publishes legal, business, and regulatory information in print, and on electronic services such as Westlaw. Since the late 19th century, West ha ...
, 2019), Bryan A. Garner, editor, *''Black's Law Dictionary'' 10th ed. (West Group, 2014), Bryan A. Garner, editor, * ''Black's Law Dictionary'' 9th ed. (West Group, 2009), Bryan A. Garner, editor, * ''Black's Law Dictionary'' 8th ed. (West Group, 2004), Bryan A. Garner, editor, * ''Black's Law Dictionary'' 7th ed. (West Group, 1999), Bryan A. Garner, editor, * ''Black's Law Dictionary'' 6th ed. (West Publishing, 1990) * ''Black's Law Dictionary'' 5th ed. (West Publishing, 1979) * ''Black's Law Dictionary'' Revised 4th ed. (St. Paul: West, 1968) * ''Black's Law Dictionary'' 4th ed. (St. Paul: West, 1951) * ''Black's Law Dictionary'' 3rd ed. (West Publishing Co., 1933) (the first edition after Henry C. Black's death) * ''A Law Dictionary'' 2nd ed. (St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing, 1910)
Public domain
(accessible for free through
Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
) * ''A Dictionary of Law'' 1st ed. (St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing, 1891)


Pocket editions

* ''Black's Law Dictionary'' 6th pocket ed. (West Group, 2021), Bryan A. Garner, editor, * ''Black's Law Dictionary'' 5th pocket ed. (West Group, 2016), Bryan A. Garner, editor, * ''Black's Law Dictionary'' 4th pocket ed. (West Group, 2011), Bryan A. Garner, editor, * ''Black's Law Dictionary'' 3rd pocket ed. (West Group, 2006), Bryan A. Garner, editor, * ''Black's Law Dictionary'' 2nd pocket ed. (West Group, 2001), Bryan A. Garner, editor, * ''Black's Law Dictionary'' 1st pocket ed. (West Group, 1996), Bryan A. Garner, editor,


Non-English editions

* ''Blackův právnický slovník''. Complete translation of 6th edition into Czech. Victoria Publishing, Prague, 1993. . * Āqāʼī, Bahman. ''Farhang-i ḥuqūqī-i Bahman: Ingilīsī-Fārsī: bar asās-i Black's law dictionary'' (1999) (Fārsī) * Muqtadirah-yi Qaumī Zabān. ''Qānūnī, Angrezī-Urdu lug̲h̲at: Blaiks lāʼ dikshanarī se māk̲h̲ūz (Based on Black's law dictionary) / nigrān, Fatiḥ Muḥammad Malik'' (2002) . (Urdu)


See also

* ''
Bouvier's Law Dictionary ''Bouvier's Law Dictionary'' is a set consisting of two or three books with a long tradition in the United States legal community. The first edition was written by John Bouvier. John Bouvier (1787–1851) was born in Codognan, France, but came to ...
'' *
Legal terminology textbook A legal terminology textbook is a textbook that arranges and defines legal words and phrases in groups and by topic, in contrast with a law dictionary, which arranges and defines legal words and phrases individually and in alphabetical order. Thu ...
*
List of legal abbreviations This is a list of abbreviations used in law and legal documents. It is common practice in legal documents to cite other publications by using standard abbreviations for the title of each source. Abbreviations may also be found for common words o ...
*
Wex Wex is a collaboratively-edited legal dictionary and encyclopaedia, intended for broad use by "practically everyone, even law students and lawyers entering new areas of law". It is sponsored and hosted by the Legal Information Institute ("LII ...


References

{{reflist


External links


WorldCat listing for all nine editions

Libraries with the Urdu edition

Libraries with the Persian edition

''Black's Law Dictionary'', 2nd Edition (1910)
at the Internet Archive West (publisher) 1891 non-fiction books Law dictionaries