Defending British soldiers charged with murder for their role in the Boston Massacre , John Adams also expanded upon the rationale behind Blackstone 's Ratio when he stated : Given that Sir Matthew Hale and Sir John Fortescue in English law had made similar statements previously , some kind of explanation is required for the enormous popularity and influence of the phrase across all the Anglo-Saxon legal systems . Cullerne Bown has argued that it " ... can be seen as a new kind of buttress of the law that was required in a new kind of society . " The immediate precursors of Blackstone 's Ratio in English law were articulations by Hale ( about 100 years earlier ) and Fortescue ( about 200 years before that ) , both influential jurists in their time
Boston Massacre
Boston Massacre
Blackstone's ratio