William Blackstone's beliefs can be seen in many of his works, including his Commentaries. One of his central beliefs is that the law was meant to protect innocent people rather than convict guilty individuals. Accordingly, Blackstone worked toward a law practice that would not assume the guilt of an accused person.

His arguments for press freedom became extremely important in subsequent First Amendment case law in the United States, and as late as 1971 influenced the Supreme Court's decision in the New York Times Corporation vs. The United States, better known as the “Pentagon Papers Case.”

Blackstone's examination of English law was influential Although Blackstone was heavily influenced by John Locke's work, he found the concept of revolution troubling and acknowledged a right to revolution only in theory, contending that power returned to the people only when sovereign power had been utterly destroyed.

Though Thomas Jefferson criticized some parts of the Commentaries, he acknowledged that Blackstone accomplished "more towards the suppression of the liberties of man, than all the millions of men in arms of Bonaparte.” In fact, Jefferson probably found inspiration for the language of the Declaration of Independence in ...