Black's Law Dictionary

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Description
This massive new edition of Black's Law Dictionary continues the under-taking begun by Henry Campbell Black in 1891: to marshal legal terms to the fullest possible extent and to define them accurately. But more than that, it continues the effort begun with my seventh edition of 1999: to follow established lexicographic principles in selecting headwords and in phrasing definitions, to provide easy-to-follow pronunciations, and to raise the level of scholarship through serious research and careful reassessment. After nearly 40 years as a legal lexicographer, I can attest that marshaling, defining, arranging, and elucidating the whole of the legal vocabulary well as ascertaining the most classic and useful explications of terminology to be found in legal literature — has never been more challenging. This eleventh edition, my fifth as editor in chief, contains new material on every page: material that will be valuable to a wide range of dictionary users, from students to practcing lawyers to historians. Since becoming editor in chief in the mid-1990s, I've tried with each successive edition to make the book at once both more scholarly and more practical. Anyone who cares to put this book alongside any of the first six editions (pre- 1991 editions) will discover that the book has been almost entirely rewritten, with an increase in precision and clarity. It's true that I've cut some definitions that appeared in the sixth and earlier editions. On a representative sample of two consecutive pages of the sixth can be found botulism, bouche (mouth), bough of a tree, bought (meaning “purchased”), brabant (an obscure kind of ancient coin also called a crokard), brabanter (a mercenary in the Middle Ages), and brachium maris (an arm of the sea). These should not count as legal terms worthy of inclusion in a true law dictionary.'

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Contents 
Preface to the Twelfth Edition
Acknowledgment
Preface to the Seventh Edition
Guide to the Dictionary
List of Abbreviation in Definitions
Dictionary
Appendix
    A. Legal Maxims
    B. The Declaration of Independence
    C. The Constitution of the United States
    D. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
    E. Member of the United States Supreme Court
    F. Federal Circuits Map
    G. British Regnal Years
    H. Bibliography of Books Cited
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Author Details
Bryan A. Garner, Editor in Chief