The Law in Shakespeare

"In this new collection, leading scholars analyze Shakespeare's plays to show how they shape issues arising from the interpretation of statute and common law as well as respond to new ideas of contract, the rights of subordinates, and the demands of the market. These essays explore what happens to law when it is rendered in fiction, illustrating the complementary relations between play text and legal text, between the dramatization of conflicts on stage and their discursive renderings in the words of the law."--BOOK JACKET.

CONSTANCE JORDAN is Emeritus Professor of English, Claremont Graduate University. KAREN CUNNINGHAM is Lecturer in English, University of California, Los Angeles.

Notes on Contributors * Introduction * LEGAL LANGUAGE AND ITS CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL NORMS AND REALITIES * Drama, Law and Rhetoric in the Age of Coke and Shakespeare--A.Boyer * Truth, Lies and Law in Much Ado about Nothing--C.Clegg * Consenting Adults: Confirming Marital Contracts in Literary and Legal Practice--L.Giese * Dead in Law: Hamlet, Hales v. Petit and the Paradox of Overture--C.Sale * POSITIVE LAW AND THE STATUS OF 'NATURE' * 'Destined Livery': Law and Natural Compulsion in Measure for Measure--E.Hanson * Answering Their Suspicion: The Disclosure of Evidence in Titus Andronicus--L.Hutson * The 'Stigmaticall' in the Henry IV Plays--L.Gallagher * Wilde Justice--D.Callaghan & C.R.Kyle * THE CONCEPT OF PROPERTY AND ITS CONTRACTUAL GUARANTEES * 'This Small Inheritance': Property Law and Property Rights in The Second Part of Henry VI--N.E.Wright & A.R.Buck * Accomplished with What She Lacks: Law, Equity and Portia's Con--T. Bilello * Conveying Desdemona and Her Fortunes--C.Ross * Risk and Marine Insurance in Renaissance England--L.Wilson * Landholding, Leasing and Inheritance in Richard II--W.O.Scott * THE CREATION OF POWER AND AUTHORITY UNDER THE LAW * King Lear's Expectations--C.Conway * 'The Law of Children': Roman Law and Tyranny in Julius Caeser--R.Lemon * Macbeth and the Ancient Constitution: The Aporia of Politics--P.Herman * Conclusion * Index Notes on Contributors * Introduction * LEGAL LANGUAGE AND ITS CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL NORMS AND REALITIES * Drama, Law and Rhetoric in the Age of Coke and Shakespeare--A.Boyer * Truth, Lies and Law in Much Ado about Nothing--C.Clegg * Consenting Adults: Confirming Marital Contracts in Literary and Legal Practice--L.Giese * Dead in Law: Hamlet, Hales v. Petit and the Paradox of Overture--C.Sale * POSITIVE LAW AND THE STATUS OF 'NATURE' * 'Destined Livery': Law and Natural Compulsion in Measure for Measure--E.Hanson * Answering Their Suspicion: The Disclosure of Evidence in Titus Andronicus--L.Hutson * The 'Stigmaticall' in the Henry IV Plays--L.Gallagher * Wilde Justice--D.Callaghan & C.R.Kyle * THE CONCEPT OF PROPERTY AND ITS CONTRACTUAL GUARANTEES * 'This Small Inheritance': Property Law and Property Rights in The Second Part of Henry VI--N.E.Wright & A.R.Buck * Accomplished with What She Lacks: Law, Equity and Portia's Con--T. Bilello * Conveying Desdemona and Her Fortunes--C.Ross * Risk and Marine Insurance in Renaissance England--L.Wilson * Landholding, Leasing and Inheritance in Richard II--W.O.Scott * THE CREATION OF POWER AND AUTHORITY UNDER THE LAW * King Lear's Expectations--C.Conway * 'The Law of Children': Roman Law and Tyranny in Julius Caeser--R.Lemon * Macbeth and the Ancient Constitution: The Aporia of Politics--P.Herman * Conclusion * Index