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The trials of shakespeare : courtroom drama and early modern English law
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Raffield, Paul (2014) The trials of shakespeare : courtroom drama and early modern English law. Law and Humanities, Volume 8 (Number 1). pp. 53-76. doi:10.5235/17521483.8.1.53 ISSN 1752-1483.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5235/17521483.8.1.53
Abstract
In this paper I consider the structure and procedures of the English law courts of the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods, with reference to three of Shakespeare's plays: The Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure and The Winter's Tale. These plays, while not replicating in realistic detail the juridical processes of the early modern legal system, provide an imaginary, hybrid version of immanent institutional configurations in English jurisprudence. Through the dramatic device of the trial scene, Shakespeare offers an informed critique of existing practices and ideologies in three distinct but related areas of law. The trial scene in The Merchant of Venice, far from being the paean to Equity that many commentators have described, engages both with the elevation of conscience in late Elizabethan contract law and the symbolically-charged mutual promise in commercial arrangements. The offstage trial of Claudio in Measure for Measure and the spectacular trial scene at the end of the play raise highly topical issues of the relevance of religious belief to the initiation and resolution of the criminal trial. Finally, the trial for adultery and High Treason of Hermione in The Winter's Tale raises significant constitutional issues concerning the imposition of the King's Imperium and the subsequent diminution in the jurisdictional power of the courts of common law. Drawing these themes together is the burgeoning matter of the institutional relationship between the autonomous subject of law and an increasingly centralised, expansive state.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Subjects: | K Law [Moys] > KA Jurisprudence | ||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law | ||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Law in literature, Trials in literature, Law and literature -- History -- 17th century, English literature -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Law and Humanities | ||||||
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis | ||||||
ISSN: | 1752-1483 | ||||||
Official Date: | 9 June 2014 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Volume 8 | ||||||
Number: | Number 1 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 53-76 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.5235/17521483.8.1.53 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
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