William Blackstone (1723–80)

Legal writer and judge. Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford, 1743; dean of laws and bursar, 1746. BCL, Oxford, 1745; DCL, 1750. Called to the bar at the Middle Temple, 1746; bencher, 1761. Assessor, or deputy judge, of the vice-chancellor’s court, Oxford, 1753–9; Vinerian Professor of common law, 1758–66. MP, 1761–70. Justice of common pleas, 1770.