The debate concerning the relationship that exists between the law and literature has been in existence since time immemorial to the extent that in the course of the 1990s, there were numerous scholarly journals that were specifically dedicated towards the discussion of this particular topic or rather subject matter (Ross 13). This is to the extent that from the mid-1980s all the way to the mid-1990s, national bar associations in conjunction with the state did sponsor numerous theatrical recreations that centralized on the questions of law that were presented in the works of literature that were considered to be very classic and included those of Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare (George 17).
It is on this basis that the ancient Plato who is one of the outstanding Greek philosophers acknowledged and established the link that exists between literature and law. This is to the extent that he commented in his works that the law book of the society should both in right and rationale prove upon opening it the best of its whole literature (Glover 236). It is also on record that the works of Plato were studied alongside other classic literature works as an integral component of the general education of the majority of the professionals in the 18th and 19th centuries. After the US Civil War that took place between the years 1861-65, law was regarded to be more of a science as opposed to being humanity something that led to a situation in which the Western literature playing a very little role when it came to the education of the people involved in legal education (Hutson 9). This was a classic case of the recognition of the fact that in fact, the law was more of a science and less of a humanity subject hence making it be of little importance to the world of humanities. In this connection, the records also have it that in the year 1908, the link that existed between law and literature was put under review by John H. Wigmore who was among the leading legal scholars who mentioned the prevalence of legal themes and trials in most of the famous novels in the world. this followed by the publication made by Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo who was then a Supreme Court Judge in the US which tended to examine the literary style that was prevalent in most of the opinions of the judges (George 23). This was in admission to the fact that there is no opinion made by any judge during the administration of justice or rather the delivery of a judgment that does not apply the notable literary styles something that is a true testament to the fact that the connection between law and literature cannot be denied. The judges and members of the legal profession have to make sure that they incorporate literature into the law especially when advancing their opinions so as to ensure that the intended message that they are communicating comes out clear and without any iota of distortion by all standards.
In addition to this, during the 1960s all the way to the 1070s, the ideas articulated by Wigmore and Cardozo established the foundation of the current law as well as the literature movement. It was also during this particular period that the law seen as a short-sighted rule oriented vocation that was lacking in fundamental human qualities, for instance, empathy and sympathy. In this respect, an increasing number of lawyers, law students as well as judges became very much dissatisfied with the limited point of view of rather perspective of their legal profession and consequently commenced to explore other academic fields for the purpose of getting enlightened on the various matters and events that happen around the world and shape the society within which we live in at all times. Similarly, high school teachers, graduate students, and even college professors commenced their migration from the humanities all the way to the legal profession as they sought more pragmatic employment opportunities. This was based on the understanding that the legal profession in itself covered an avalanche of various other fields of study hence giving a wide range of employment opportunities to the people who were members of the legal profession by all standards.
Moreover, it is also well-established that there are three distinct areas when it comes to the studies of law and literature. The first area is that of the law in the literature which primarily centralizes on the legal themes that are demonstrated in literary works alongside novels to mention but a few. Such fictionalized works are applied as prisms via which the real proceedings in the courtrooms in the European countries and also the US are put under serious scrutiny (George 32). This is a clear indication of the fact that it has become common for the legal themes to be put within the context of literature and be discussed for the people to be able to understand. Such language used in explaining the legal themes is free from the jargons that are synonymous with the legal profession something that is imperative in enhancing the understanding of the people within the society since the law must be understood for it to be obeyed hence the need for it to be expressed in the type of literature that people can properly understand. The second area is that of the law as a literature of its own (Pound 14). This particular sphere engages in the studies of the educational aspects of the real trials that involve the legal disputes that are recurrent over matters such as a free society, proper function of the law enforcement agencies and race relations among others. It is this particular area of study that also engages in the analysis of both the rhetoric and the prose that are used by the judges to provide substantive explanations to the various legal arguments as well as the conclusions entailed in their judicial opinions (George 17). This may by all standards seem to be the most important relationship between the law and literature since it helps the judges to be able to break down the jurisprudence into the simple language that can be understood by among other people the parties to the legal dispute (Felix 4). This approach is of great importance given the fact that the law is complex and if written or spoken in its raw form then it is difficult for the people who have never be in any law college to understand what the various judicial opinions mean in the literary terms (Pound 6). The third area in this respect centralizes on law and literature and it engages in the comparison and contrasts of the analytical tools that are employed by each particular discipline whether it is interpreting a specific text may it be a statute, a constitution, a piece of literature or even judicial precedence. Such an analysis is of great importance as it helps in making sure that the actual text being read or relied upon is well-understood by all persons without any misinterpretations or even misunderstandings of any nature (George 22). It is easier to understand the law through literature compared to when one has to deal with the raw law with its litany of jargons that are beyond the understanding of ordinary members of the society.
It is also common that the law can be subjected to the same interpretation as any other text. Nonetheless, in as much as this presumption is true, the catch is that consideration must always be taken regarding the context of power within which the law exists and also the fact that the legal text is supposed to be implemented or rather executed something that calls for a sound interpretation to be attached to the legal text to save its proper meaning without any confusion. Law is regarded as a particular system of signs to the extent that is reflected in the lives of particular people (West 129). In as much as the law is regarded as something that is abstract or rather that which cannot be seen, it is evident that it is a tool that impacts on the functionality of the society as a whole and to the extent that it influences the lives of virtually every member of the society who has to abide by the provisions of the law without violating them by all standards (Derrida 210). The law is accompanied by a threat of a sanction meaning that any breach is met with the full force of the law or rather the commensurate form of punishment. The law also needs persuasion since this is the way through which people have to be convinced of why the given law is correct and the legal procedures therein (Lacey 22). The law is regarded as an object presented to the members of the general public to govern their affairs and also to ensure that the people in the society have their actions within the province of the law without any breach.
The audience to the law becomes very much relevant during the interpretation process. To this extent, it is always prudent to make sure that the whenever the law is interpreted, the words through which the legal dogma or norm is expressed have to manifest the functional social relationships since this is the only way through which the law can serve its purpose of regulating the affairs of the society (Derrida 190). It is always important to transform the law into a rule of behavior to the extent that the rule governs the conduct or rather the behavior of human beings. It is thus clear from this particular segment that the law and literature are quite a nexus to each other given the fact that for the common or ordinary people in the society to be able to obey the law and behave in a manner that does not betray the established legal standards then they have to understand that which governs them (Cardozo 15). This calls for the law to be interpreted in the kind of literature that is familiar to that which is clearly understood by the people perfectly well and without living them confused for whichever reason. That is why during the court session, it is prudent for the courts to make sure that both parties to the dispute fully understands the court proceedings including the charges and the legal terms used to describe their offenses and sentencing at all times (Dolin 32). This can only be achieved through the transformation of the legal jargons into the kind of literature that can easily be understood by the members of the society who are not privy to the matters and processes in the legal profession.
The assumption that the law can as well be perceived as a kind of language perfectly connects it to literature. Ferdinand de Saussure who is a Swiss linguist comprehended the law as being a product of the society that is associated with the capability to speak. As such, he went ahead to consider the law as a set of social conventions that the society adopted for the purpose of implementing or rather executing this particular ability. Consequently, the language can as well be conceived as being a conventional system made up of signs that are meant to express specific ideas. Consequently, the law can at the same time be understood as being a conventional system that expresses both ideas and values and also the rules that are meant to ensure proper or acceptable behavior in the society (Derrida 22). This is for the purpose of keeping both law and order and also avoiding any form of conflicts that may breach the relative peace that every society is entitled to enjoy at all times. To conclude this, the law applies a specific set of elements which are basically the rules that have specific mutual connections are fixed or rather cannot be changed or altered. Robert Over who is an American constitutional law expert made an assumption to the effect that law was in the actual sense a language (Felix 3). Going by his concept, then it suffices to aver that a norm is just but a sign that is used subject to the manner in which those being addressed handle it when it comes to the communication of the attitudes towards themselves and towards the others as well. By violating a given norm, a person is thus making a statement concerning him or herself and his particular relationship to the society (Aristodemou 7).
In the final analysis, it is clear that the connection or rather the link that exists between the law and literature is not in doubt. The law is a language that is designed to govern the behavior of the persons in the society and as such, it has to be communicated in such a manner that it becomes easy for those being governed by it to fully understand the various legal principles and how they apply to promote the norms and the values of the society. To this extent, the judges also make sure that they apply the relevant literature when stating their decision on the matters before them and also ensure that the parties to the dispute are able to understand the law as it relates to the offenses that they have been accused of. The law needs to be communicated in the language that is understood and as such, it has to always relate to the common literature that is understood by all and at all times in the society. It is impossible for any person to thus purports to separate the law from literature since this will render the functionality of the law to be impossible.
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Derrida, Jacques. Acts of literature. Routledge, 2017.
Derrida, Jacques. “Before the law.” Acts of literature. Routledge, 2017. 181-220.
Dolin, Kieran. A critical introduction to law and literature. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Dolin, Kieran, ed. Law and Literature. Cambridge University Press, 2018.
Felix, Robert L. “Law in Literature: Legal Themes in American Stories: 1842–1917, edited by Elizabeth Villiers Gemmette: (New York: Buckingham, 2015), 507 pp. US $43.15 (pbk). ISBN: 978-0-692-51443-6.” (2017): 1-4.
Fish, Stanley. “Working on the chain gang: Interpretation in law and literature.” Tex. L. Rev. 60 (1981): 551.
Fish, Stanley. “Thomas Hobbes: The Father of Law and Literature.” Law & Literature 29.1 (2017): 151-156.
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Glover, Susan Paterson. “Power and Legitimacy: Law, Culture, and Literature by Anne Quéma.” (2017): 235-237.
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Hutson, Lorna, ed. The Oxford Handbook of English Law and Literature, 1500-1700. Oxford University Press, 2017.
Lacey, Nicola. “Women, crime and character in twentieth century law and literature: in search of the modern Moll Flanders.” (2017).
Prosser, William Lloyd. Handbook of the Law of Torts. Vol. 4. West Publishing, 1941.
Pound, Roscoe, and Marshall L. DeRosa. An introduction to the philosophy of law. Routledge, 2017.
Ross, Charles. Elizabethan literature and the law of fraudulent conveyance: Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare. Routledge, 2017.
West, Robin. “Communities, texts, and law: reflections on the law and literature movement.” Yale JL & Human. 1 (1988): 129.
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