Anderson, William C. (William Caldwell), fl. 1880-1891.

Anderson's Dictionary of Law : (American Law, 1889)

A Dictionary of Law, 1889

William C. Anderson took care that his work would "not follow in the 'beaten path' of law dictionaries." In his introduction he determined precisely how his work would be preferable to others: he would include proper pronunciations, note variant and preferred spellings, and indicate the etymologies of all technical terms. Beyond that, he endeavored to state definitions as they have been outlined by the courts, preferring to use the explanations of the highest tribunals in the United States. He noticed imperfections in other law dictionaries and aimed to improve his own work by the absence of these; earlier dictionaries lacked sufficient judicial matter and definitions, did not include non-technical terms that may have use as cross-references, omitted the names and dates of important cases, included thousands of obsolete works and phrases, and included non-legal matters of no use to the student or practitioner. Of special interest in the work are biographies of several prominent judges, and the extensive, philosophical entries for words like "liberty" (he discussed natural, moral, civil, and personal liberty, as well as liberty of conscience, speech, worship, and liberty of the press), and "law."

Anderson's dictionary is significant in part because it preceded Black's by two years; Black even acknowledged a debt to Anderson in the preface to his first edition. The work remains an authoritative legal reference text.

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