← All research pathsJudicial power
Study precedent, judicial independence, and constitutional interpretation as separate aspects of adjudication. Story’s later American account adds a different institutional setting to Blackstone’s account of English law.
Printed page 69 · PDF page 91
Decisions as evidence of the common law
Blackstone explains the evidentiary role of judicial decisions and the reasons for adhering to precedent. Continue through the next two pages for his qualifications and his distinction between law and a judge’s mistaken account of it.
1 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 69 (Oxford, William Strahan, Thomas Cadell, & Daniel Prince 7th ed. 1775).
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Original source record ↗Printed page 269 · PDF page 289
A separate judicial institution
Blackstone links public liberty to the distinct existence of judicial power and its separation from legislative and executive functions. This passage concerns institutional independence, rather than the elements of a private cause of action.
1 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 269 (Oxford, William Strahan, Thomas Cadell, & Daniel Prince 7th ed. 1775).
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Original source record ↗Printed page 347 · PDF page 387
Questions capable of judicial decision
In section 375, Story distinguishes questions capable of judicial inquiry from the matters discussed on the preceding page. Continue to section 376 on the next page for his account of constitutional interpretation in judicial controversies. This is an 1833 commentary, not a text contemporaneous with every earlier English authority.
1 Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States § 375, at 347 (Boston, Hilliard, Gray, & Co. 1833).
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