Black's Law Dictionary 5th Edition _VERIFIED_

The first edition was published in 1891 by West Publishing, with the full title A Dictionary of Law: containing definitions of the terms and phrases of American and English jurisprudence, ancient and modern, including the principal terms of international constitutional and commercial law, with a collection of legal maxims and numerous select titles from the civil law and other foreign systems. A second edition was published in 1910 as A Law Dictionary.[2] Black died in 1927 and future editions were titled Black's Law Dictionary.

Black's Law Dictionary 5th Edition

The sixth and earlier editions of the book additionally provided case citations for the term cited, which was viewed by lawyers as its most useful feature, providing a useful starting point with leading cases. The invention of the Internet made legal research easier therefore many state- or circuit-specific case citations and outdated or overruled case citations were omitted from the seventh edition in 1999. The eighth edition introduced a unique system of perpetually updated case citations and cross-references to legal encyclopedias. The current edition is the eleventh, published in 2019.[3]

As many legal terms are derived from a Latin root word, the dictionary provides a pronunciation guide for such terms.[4] In addition, the applicable entries provide pronunciation transcriptions pursuant to those found among North American practitioners of law or medicine.

The second edition of Black's Law Dictionary, published in 1910, is now in the public domain and is widely reproduced online. References to case law are out-of-date, and that edition of the dictionary omits legal terms that have since come into use and does not reflect contemporary changes in how legal terms are used.[6]

The 5th, 6th, and 7th printed editions of Black's Law Dictionary are located in the Legal Reference Collection on the 2nd floor at the top of the main stairs on the north/river facing side. The call number is KF156 .B53.

Black's Law Dictionary is, of course, the definitive legal dictionary in the U.S. First published in 1891, it is now edited by Bryan Garner, perhaps the best known expert in effective legal writing. The current print 8th Edition contains over 43,000 definitions, all of which are in the iPhone app. The print edition, which you can get from Amazon for $52.80, has its advantages: it is easy to browse, you can keep it and use it forever without worrying about computability with future devices, and it looks nice on your shelf. But the feature-packed iPhone version has a lot going for it, even beyond the obvious advantage of always being in your pocket (assuming that your iPhone is always in your pocket).

As in the print edition, you see a guide for pronunciation immediately after the term. But even better, the app includes a handy audio tool at the top right for about 7,000 terms that you can just tap to hear the word pronounced. It is a clear pronunciation spoken by a male human voice, not a computer synthesized voice. In the definition, some words and phrases are single underlined or double-underlined. The single underline indicates a hyperlink; tap the underlined word to get its definition. This is a great feature that makes the iPhone edition much easier to use than the print edition, and I think more than makes up for the fact that you can't just quickly browse through terms in the iPhone app like you can in a printed book. (Having said that, it would have been nice if the developers had included the ability to swipe to advance forward or backward through terms.) The double-underline indicates a hyperlink to Westlaw.com, which I will address in a moment.

At the bottom of each entry, you see a copyright and Bryan Garner's name followed by the page number on which the term appears in the printed version. Garner told me that he was not directly involved in the development of this app (he uses a Blackberry, not an iPhone), but he is obviously ultimately responsible for the content of the dictionary. And on WestBlog.net, Garner is quoted as saying:

Although this iPhone app is brand new, the 8th edition of Black's on which it is based will not be the latest and greatest for very long. Originally, Black's Law Dictionary was updated approximately every 20 years. According to Wikipedia, The 1st Ed. was in 1891, the 2d Ed. in 1910, the 3d Ed. in 1933, the 4th Ed. in 1951 and the 5th Ed. in 1979. Then the 6th and 7th Eds. accelerated the refresh cycle to ten years, coming out in 1990 and 1999. Now, it appears that the refresh cycle is down to five years. The 8th Ed. was released in 2004, and a ninth edition is coming in approximately June of 2009. Kevin Hunt, Senior Communications Specialist with Thomson Reuters (West), told me that the company has not yet decided whether or when an iPhone version of the ninth edition will be available.

So is the Black's app worth $49.99? As noted above, the print edition costs $52.80 (and much more if you get the deluxe edition), doesn't include many features of the iPhone app and isn't always in your pocket when you need it. West also sells a digital version of Black's for your computer that integrates with Word and WordPerfect and seems to include all of the features of the iPhone edition such as hyperlinks and audio pronunciation, and that version sells on Amazon for $80.16. So considered in the context of what legal texts in general, and Black's in specific, typically cost, the price is fair. (Besides, you might be able to get your law firm to pay for it or at least write it off as a business expense.) The Black's app is, of course, more expensive than the typical iPhone app, but consider that Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary app , Medical Dictionary app and foreign language dictionary apps such as their English-French app all cost $24.99, and that the Webster's Unabridged app costs $59.99. Also consider some of the iPhone OED apps: the Concise Oxford English Dictionary and Thesaurus app costs $34.99, the more comprehensive Shorter Oxford English Dictionary costs $49.99 and the Shorter OED version that includes audio costs $59.99. Placed in this context, $49.99 for the Black's app seems fair.

The real question is just whether the app will be worth $49.99 to you. I have an older, print version of Black's Law Dictionary in my office that I bought in law school. I used it a lot in law school, but now I use it only occasionally. But I must admit that having the Black's app on my iPhone for the last few days has brought me renewed interest in the dictionary and I find myself frequently looking up terms during my legal research just because my iPhone is always within reach. Time will tell whether I am still finding this app useful in a month or a year. Nevertheless, I can imagine myself in court one day finding it useful to have Black's within reach, so I think I am going to really like this app. 041b061a72