Miscellaneous

Bruce L. Hay, Harvard Law School,

Posted on April 09, 2008
Bruce L. Hay, Harvard Law School, has published "Charades: Religious Allegory in 12 Angry Men," in volume 82 of the Chicago-Kent Law Review (2007) as part of a symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the film 12 Angry Men.Here is the abstract.This essay, a contribution to a symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the film 12 Angry Men, shows that the film is an intricate, carefully constructed allegory of a series of stories from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament...

Contract and the Comedy of Errors

Posted on April 09, 2008
Andrew Zurcher, Queen's College, Cambridge, has published "Consideration, Contract, and the End of the Comedy of Errors, in volume 1 of Law & Humanities (2007). Here is the abstract.To address methodological and critical issues at stake in the conferral of legal historical and literary studies...

Shakespeare and Specific Performance

Posted on April 09, 2008
Mark Fortier, University of Guelph, has published "Shakespeare and Specific Performance," in volume 1 of Law & Humanities. Here is the abstract.The standard form of compensation for loss at the common law is damages - a sum of money given as recompense...

Weisberg on the Merchant of Venice

Posted on April 09, 2008
Richard Weisberg, Cardozo Law School, has published "The Concept and Performance of "The Code" in The Merchant of Venice" as Cardozo Legal Studies Research Paper No. 229. Here is the abstract. This essay elaborates on several prior endeavors that explored the bonding of Portia and Shylock in the last two scenes of The Merchant of Venice...

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Judges Citing Literature

Posted on April 08, 2008
Professor Todd Henderson (U. Chicago Law School) has posted an interesting article on SSRN, Citing Fiction, 11 Green Bag 2d 171 (2008). He provides many illuminating facts about judges citing literary works: A comprehensive survey of over 2 million federal appellate opinions over the past 100 years reveals only 543 identifiable citations or references to works of fiction...

Resources For a Sad Anniversary

Posted on April 04, 2008
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. died forty years ago today, a sad, sad anniversary. The presence of minority characters on screen is finally increasing, but is still so infrequent that one has a reasonable chance of counting the number of black or Hispanic or Asian lawyers, for example...

Law Blog Focuses on International Law and Film

Posted on April 04, 2008
New blog that you might have missed: International Law and Films, part of the International Institute for Law and Justice of the New York University School of Law.

Property Law in The Lord of the Rings

Posted on April 03, 2008
Jacob Kaufman discusses property law in J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings in a post here on the blog Law is Cool. See also these follow up posts here at the Volokh Conspiracy.[Thanks to Professor Troy Hinrichs, California Baptist University, for the cite]...

Harry Potter, College Student

Posted on April 02, 2008
Patrick Lee, a freshman at Yale, writes for CNNU about Potter-themed courses at universities and colleges around the United States here.

Filmmaker Jules Dassin Dies

Posted on April 01, 2008
Filmmaker Jules Dassin has died at the age of 96. Mr. Dassin was born in the US, where he began his career in the Yiddish theater. He made one of his most famous films, the noir classic The Naked City, in 1948. He eventually left the US for France after the House UnAmerican Activities hearings began and he fell under suspicion...

Jeanne L. Schroeder, Cardozo School

Posted on March 31, 2008
Jeanne L. Schroeder, Cardozo School of Law, reviews William MacNeil's new book Lex Populi as a Cardozo Legal Studies Research Paper. Here is the abstract.William MacNeil's book is that rarest of rarae aves - a serious legal study that is fun to read. As its name implies, the book examines 'people's law' or, more loosely, 'pop law' - law as reflected by contemporary popular culture...

The Meaning of Rap

Posted on March 31, 2008
Andrea Dennis, University of Kentucky College of Law, has published "Poetic (In)Justice? Rap Music as Art, Life and Criminal Evidence" in volume 31 of Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts (2007). Here is the abstract.Courts routinely admit defendant-authored rap music lyrics as substantive evidence in the adjudication of criminal cases...

Weisberg On Law and Literature

Posted on March 19, 2008
Richard Weisberg, Cardozo Law School, has published "Law and Literature as Survivor," as Cardozo Legal Studies Research Paper No. 221. Here is the abstract.While human rights lawyers from Nuremberg on tried to respond to the evils of Hitler's Europe with cautious directness, humanistic theorists in the post-modernist modes of the post-war period resisted all generalizations, including the establishment of legal norms through international codes of law...

Teaching Meaning Through Narrative

Posted on March 13, 2008
Paula L. Abrams, Lewis & Clark Law School, has published "We the People and Other Constitutional Tales: Teaching Constitutional Meaning Through Narrative," at 41 The Law Teacher 247 (2007). Here is the abstract.The narratives associated with a landmark constitutional case, including the socio-political struggles that give rise to the dispute and the resulting litigation, are an important, and overlooked, aspect of constitutional understanding...

The Place of Stories

Posted on March 13, 2008
Nancy Levit and Allen K. Rostron, University of Missouri School of Law, have published "Calling for Stories," at 75 UMKC Law Review 1127 (2007). Here is the abstract.Storytelling is a fundamental part of legal practice, teaching, and thought. Telling stories as a method of practicing law reaches back to the days of the classical Greek orators...

Literature and Law Conference at John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Posted on March 12, 2008
John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY) is holding a one day conference entitled "Literature and Law" on Friday, April 11, 2008 on its campus at 899 Tenth Avenue (between 58th and 59th Streets). The conference will celebrate the imminent restoration of John Jay's English major, which will have a unique literature and law emphasis...

Precious Ramotswe, the TV Star

Posted on March 11, 2008
Alexander McCall Smith's novels are headed for the small screen. The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency will star Jill Scott as Precious Ramotswe, the thoughtful sleuth of Mr. Smith's series. Meanwhile, Mr. Smith, a former professor of medical law, is still writing...

Journalism and Murder

Posted on March 10, 2008
The Guardian considers how journalists today present murderers, and may, with hindsight, tend to exaggerate the circumstances of their everyday lives. Different newspapers emphasise different aspects....The Guardian, for example, ran "profiles" of Wright and Dixie...

Another "Saint" Series?

Posted on March 10, 2008
Nehst Studios is backing a new take on a television version of "The Saint", the character created by Leslie Charteris (Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin), and first brought to life on the small screen by Roger Moore (later to inherit the mantle of ("Bond. James Bond")...

Magna Carta Back On Display In DC

Posted on March 04, 2008
The AP notes that that copy of Magna Carta previously owned by Ross Perot, and auctioned for more than $21 million last year, is back on display at the National Archives. The purchaser, David Rubenstein of the Carlyle Group, has put it on permanent loan for the nation to enjoy.

Forthcoming Conference on Literature and Law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Posted on March 04, 2008
From Andrew Majeske comes this announcement:JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE'S LITERATURE AND LAW CONFERENCE, FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2008FOR MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING REGISTRATION FORM AND HOTEL INFORMATION PLEASE GO TO http://literatureandlaw.blogspot...

Stephen Gillers, New York University

Posted on March 03, 2008
Stephen Gillers, New York University School of Law, has published "A Tendency To Deprave and Corrupt: The Transformation of American Obscenity Law From Hicklin to Ulysses II," in volume 85 of the Washington University Law Review (2007). Here is the abstract...

The Last Enemy: A New BBC Thriller

Posted on March 03, 2008
Peter Tatchell of The Guardian reviews the BBC1 series The Last Enemy, finding it a cautionary tale.Like millions of other viewers, I was gripped last night by the latest plot twists in BBC1's thriller series The Last Enemy, which depicts the dystopian future of a complete surveillance society, where everyone is data-based, ID-carded and CCTV-monitored 24/7...

Eli Stone

Posted on March 03, 2008
A Review by Michael Asimow, Professor of Law Emeritus, UCLA School of Law In the ABC television series that bears his name, Eli Stone is a senior associate at a large San Francisco law firm. He appears to be a competent attorney and, until recently, was highly valued by the firm...

Eli Stone

Posted on March 03, 2008
Several entertainment critics have already reviewed Eli Stone, ABC's new legal drama, and find it either "quirky" and original, or run of the mill, or truly awful. I vote for truly awful, for a number of reasons.Eli Stone is an associate at a white shoe firm in San Francisco, rapidly on the way up, engaged to the boss's daughter...

More On Fan Fiction

Posted on March 03, 2008
Jacqueline Lai Chung, William and Mary School of Law, has published "Drawing Idea From Expression: Creating a Legal Space For Culturally Appropriated Literary Characters," in volume 49 of the William and Mary Law Review. Here is the abstract.This paper examines the influx of secondary creativity involving culturally iconic literary characters (i...

Who's Your Daddy? Jefferson On Trial

Posted on March 03, 2008
William Hyland has published "A Civil Action: Sally Hemings v. Thomas Jefferson," in volume 31 of the American Journal of Trial Advocacy (2007). Here is the abstract.Allegations that Thomas Jefferson had an affair and fathered at least one child with slave Sally Hemings have been discussed for two centuries...

Joseph Slaughter, Associate Professor

Posted on February 28, 2008
Joseph Slaughter, Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, has published Human Rights Inc.: The World Novel, Narrative Form, and International Law (Fordham University Press, 2007). Here's a description from the publisher's catalog...

Literature in the Health Law Curriculum

Posted on February 28, 2008
We missed this interesting piece when it first appeared, but we're trying to make amends now. Stacey A. Tovino, Hamline University School of Law, published "Incorporating Literature Into a Health Law Curriculum" at 9 MSU Journal of Medicine and Law 213 (2005)...

New Museum on Crime and Punishment To Open Soon

Posted on February 28, 2008
Tony Mauro of Legal Times writes of a new museum which may soon be opening in Washington, D.C., devoted to "Crime and Punishment". The National Museum of Crime and Punishment, the brainchild of attorney John Morgan, will reside at 575 7th St. N.W. Mr...

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