Editing Black's Law Dictionary (section)

==History==
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''.<ref>{{OCLC|33831602}}</ref> Black died in 1927 and future editions were titled ''Black's Law Dictionary''.

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The development of the Internet made legal research easier therefore many state- or circuit-specific case citations and outdated or overruled case citations were omitted from the seventh edition in 1999.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 twelfth, published in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/en/products/law-books/blacks-law-dictionary|title = Black's Law Dictionary}}</ref>

As many legal terms are derived from a [[Latin]] [[root word]], the dictionary provides a pronunciation guide for such terms.<ref>Macleod, P. R. (1997). Latin in legal writing: an inquiry into the use of Latin in the modern legal world. ''BCL Rev.'', ''39'', 235.</ref> In addition, the applicable entries provide pronunciation transcriptions pursuant to those found among North American practitioners of law or medicine.