Hybrids of Law in Early Modern Literature

(5 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

For most of its history, the British isles can be characterized as a realm of overlapping and contending jurisdictions. Within the territory of England and the sphere of its administrative influence, common law, civil law, canon law, biblical law, municipal law, the law of conquest and many other claims to legal order have coexisted, sometimes complementing, sometimes contradicting, one another. Literary works have always engaged with these overlaps, sometimes trying to resolve them but also contributing to the resultant conflicts. Accordingly, literary texts frequently refer to obsolete laws, future laws, fictive laws and rumoured laws from other parts of the world. Such references to other legal systems may occasionally question the public order and subvert the story that the dominant power likes to tell about itself; however, these same references may also complement and prop up the governing power. Either way, many dramas, novels and stories demonstrate that the law is not as unified, objective and straightforward as it is usually presented. Often, the power of rhetoric decides which claim to speak on behalf of justice is accepted as authoritative, and this verbal power covertly connects legal and literary discourses. The seminar will explore these latent connections in a range of literary works, from Thomas More, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare and Jonathan Swift to James Joyce and contemporary horror stories.