Black's Law Dictionary

Black’s Law Dictionary is one of the most widely used and highly regarded law books still in use today. The law book was founded by Henry Campbell Black and is the authority in definitions used in legal briefs and court opinions and has even been used as a secondary legal authority in an abundance of U.S. Supreme Court cases.

Mix of Easiness and Extensive Information
Black’s Law Dictionary is widely used by a variety of different people. Whether one is a law student, a lawyer, a judge, a person involved in a trial, or just a member of the general public, this law book will help anyone with understanding legal terms. It has enough information to be an authority among other law books, but is written in enough clarity that the average person would be able to understand it.

Editions:
The first edition of Black’s Law Dictionary was published in 1891 and was well ahead of any other law books for its time. This makes Black’s Law Dictionary not only one of the oldest laws books in the world, but also one of the oldest dictionaries. The second edition did not come until 1910, well before the Oxford English Dictionary was published. The 9th edition was published in the summer of 2009.

Iterations:
Black’s Law Dictionary is available in its extensive unabridged form, but there are also other versions of the law book for the sake of convenience. There have been abridged versions released of the law book, designed for the average person to use to better understand legal terms. Also, a “pocket-sized” version of the law book has also been made, primarily targeted at law students so that they can easily transport the book and refer to it whenever needed.

Black’s Law Dictionary has also taken advantage of cutting edge technology to reach out to more “tech-savvy” people. Anyone with an iPhone can download the law book application to their phone so they can look up unfamiliar legal terms right from their cell phone. The application is easy to use and has search capabilities to make searching for terms easier. It even has audio pronunciations so you can hear the definition instead of reading it.

Black’s Law Dictionary, aside from offering its law books, gives people additional ways of looking up legal words. People can download the toolbar in their internet browser or word processor to look up meanings of law terms. When searching for terms in these programs, a special feature corrects a users incorrect spelling automatically.

Features that Separate Black’s Law Dictionary from other Law Books:
The later editions of the book provided case citations for the term cited. Many lawyers and other legal professionals believe that this is one of its most useful features because it provides a starting point with leading cases. Citations were later dropped in subsequent editions because of the emergence of the internet for looking up quick information.

Law books influenced by Black’s Law Dictionary:
Black’s Law Dictionary has influenced a number of other law books written in other languages, such as Persian.