An Analysis of the Laws of England

[1] A prospectus was issued on 23 June 1753, and with a class of approximately 20 students, the first lecture series was completed by July 1754.

[2] The second and third series were far more popular, partially due to his then unusual use of printed handouts and lists of suggested reading.

These show Blackstone's attempts to reduce English law to a logical system, with the division of subjects later being the basis for his Commentaries.

[10] Many of the later editions were prefaced with copies of Blackstone's A Discourse on the Study of the Law, first published in 1758.

[11] Because of the success of the Commentaries, Prest remarks that "relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to this work";[8] at the time, however, it was hailed as "an elegant performance...calculated to facilitate this branch of knowledge".