Black's Law Dictionary, Standard Ninth Edition (Black's Law Dictionary (Standard Edition))

Some reviewers contend that the 7th edition is missing valuable information included in earlier editions. The missing information are largely case citations that give authority to various definitions. The 7th edition dispenses with this patchwork of lexicography in favor of an amalgamization approach aimed at transferring legal understanding to your mind as quickly as possible. If you need to do research on jurisdictional definitions of terms, consult Words and Phrases (multi-volume dictionary, every law library has it).

For those who are tempted to get the abridged version, I strongly encourage you to get the full version. The full version includes much commentary from legal treatises that expands understanding of the terms beyond the given definitions.

Finally, while you will have access to Black's on Westlaw your second semester, is there really a good substitute for hardcopy when your internet connection is down? Besides, if you are like me, you get sick of staring at the screen all day long.

Go buy this dictionary. You won't regret it.


A Critical Reference Tool for Legal Professionals   June 24, 2000
Andrew T. Berkowitz
66 out of 72 found this review helpful

How can anyone even tangentially involved in the legal arena dispute the preeminence of Black's Law Dictionary? It simply has no peer. If you are unable to effortlessly recite definitions used in lay english, you don't have a prayer with legal words, phrases, and terminology.

This work contains thousands of definitions, has been recently updated (7th edition) to encompass new and evolving areas of the law, and addresses more legal maxims than a college latin professor can shake a stick at. It is, therefore, simply the best.

I would like to briefly and concisely address come of the concerns of other reviewers. First, the color of the cover is completely irrelevant to the quality of the book. Get over it. If the problem is really that bad, buy a can of spray paint. Next, this monster doesn't go to class - it sits on your desk at home. If you need a pocket law dictionary for class (which you do), go buy one. Stop complaining because it won't fit into your Levis. Finally, if you don't think you need it, you need it more than you think. Every first year law student cracks this book early in the first semester. There isn't one law school professor in the country who doesn't own a copy. It's standard fare at all major law firms. So again, please tell me, why don't you need to purchase the most comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date legal dictionary in the world?


This is T H E Law dictionary!   October 19, 1999
49 out of 53 found this review helpful

Magnificent, comprehensive dictionary, covering definitions thoroughly. Also contains legal maxims (latin), which are very useful, and a copy of the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Human Rights Declaration. A must have for any lawyer, or anyone whose activities involve the law (basically everyone).


The Bible of Legal Dictionaries   December 10, 2004
Brian Craig
29 out of 31 found this review helpful

Black's Law Dictionary continues as the preeminent legal dictionary in its eighth and latest edition and is a must have for even the smallest law library. The black hardcover replaces the not so aesthetically pleasing red cover in the seventh edition.

The U.S. Supreme Court cited to Black's Law Dictionary in 10 of the 82 opinions it issued during the 2003-2004 session and the Minnesota Supreme Court has cited to Black's Law Dictionary in 31 opinions since 2000.

Some of the new terms in the updated eighth edition include "cyberpiracy," "cyberterrorism," "chad," "ethnic cleansing," and "grandparent rights." Earlier editions had omitted some commonplace terms such as "sidebar comment" and "senatorial courtesy."

Editor in Chief Bryan A. Garner, who also authored A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage and The Elements of Legal Style, has been praised by the ABA Appellate Practice Journal as "the preeminent expert in America on good legal writing" and received the prestigious 1994 Henry C. Lind Award by the Association of Reporters of Judicial Decisions. Garner also received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Thomas M. Cooley School of Law in Michigan and heads Law Prose Inc., a continuing legal education group that trains judges and attorneys in legal writing and drafting. Black's Law Dictionary is not only an excellent reference book, but it is also an effective and persuasive authority to cite in briefs.

The latest edition continues the high standard set by Henry Campbell Black, an English legal scholar who authored treatises on topics from contracts to liquor laws, who compiled the first edition of Black's Law Dictionary in 1891.



Don't get caught behind on upgrading your copy of Black's   August 17, 2000
Brent Dyer
26 out of 28 found this review helpful

Some reviewers below have suggested that it is unnecessary, or even unadvisable, to buy the new edition if you have a past version of Black's Law Dictionary. Don't believe them. Would you listen to someone who told you "why should you buy a new version of Windows (or Mac OS)? That copy of Windows 2.0 (or System 4.3) is just as good."

The editor of the new edition is Bryan Garner, who is probably the most important legal language scholar of the past ten years. Oh heck, he's the most important legal language scholar of the last millenium. He and his associate editors have taken great pains to rewrite every definition from the past editions to make them understandable and usable. Don't believe me? Compare the current definitions of "good faith" and "bad faith" with the definitions from the previous edition, which were (in essence):

Good faith: not in bad faith

Bad faith: not in good faith.

Hardly helpful when you want to explain to someone (like a judge) why your client didn't act in "bad faith."

In addition, the current edition has added cross-references to other common sources of legal definitions and explanations, i.e., Restatements and Uniform Acts. This is unbelievably useful when you want to cite a "meatier" source than "Black's Law Dictionary" in a brief. If you're like my law firm and are limping by with an outdated edition of Black's, buy this one today and find out what you've been missing.