Some Background on Black’s

Black’s Law Dictionary, founded by Henry Campbell Black, is the preeminent law dictionary in the United States.

The first edition of Black’s was published in 1891. Up to the 6^th edition, Black’s gave case citations for the term cited. The eighth edition introduced a unique system of perpetually updated case citations and cross-references to legal encyclopedias. The ninth edition was published in 2009, and the 10^th will be coming out this month.  To find current or past editions of Black’s consult the Law Library’s catalog.  You can also access Black’s on Westlaw Next.

Bryan Garner, the editor of Black’s has a great piece in the ABA Journal detailing all the work that goes into creating new editions of the Law dictionary.

Anyone can submit a word for inclusion in Black’s—the only requirement is that new terms must appear with some frequency in historical or current legal literature.  To suggest new terminology for the dictionary, email Bryan Garner at: bgarner@lawprose.org.