Works of James Wilson

James Wilson was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, delegate from Pennsylvania to the Constitutional Convention, member of the Committee on Detail, and second only to Madision as the principal architect of the Constitution. He was a fervent advocate of ratification, and served as a delegate to the Pennsylvania Ratification Convention. He later served as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and Professor of Law in the College of Philadelphia, which merged with the University of Pennsylvania in 1791. He planned a treatise on law to succeed the Commentaries of William Blackstone, for which the "Lectures on Law" 1790-92 was a preliminary effort, and stands as an important guide to interpreting the Constitution. One of his audience was George Washington. He did not live long enough to complete that planned treatise, but what he did complete does shed much light on the original meanings and intentions of the Framers.

To see some Greek words as intended you will need the SPIonic polytonic Greek fonts installed on your system. The black buttons are the Word version, and the red button the HTML version, of each volume. Other formats, and breakouts into chapters, are planned.

•  Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament, 1768
• Lectures on Law
•   Volume 1
•   Volume 2
•   Volume 3