Introduction: Shakespeare and the Law
BRADIN CORMACK, MARTHA C. NUSSBAUM, and RICHARD STRIER
I. HOW TO THINK “LAW AND LITERATURE” IN SHAKESPEARE
DANIEL BRUDNEY
Two Differences between Law and Literature
BRADIN CORMACK
Decision, Possession: The Time of Law in The Winter’s Tale and the Sonnets
LORNA HUTSON
“Lively Evidence”: Legal Inquiry and the Evidentia of Shakespearean Drama
II. SHAKESPEARE’S KNOWLEDGE OF LAW: STATUTE LAW, CASE LAW
CONSTANCE JORDAN
Interpreting Statute in Measure for Measure
RICHARD H. MCADAMS
Vengeance, Complicity, and Criminal Law in Othello
III. SHAKESPEARE’S ATTITUDES TOWARD LAW: IDEAS OF JUSTICE
RICHARD A. POSNER
Law and Commerce in The Merchant of Venice
CHARLES FRIED
Opinion of Fried, J., Concurring in the Judgment
DAVID BEVINGTON
Equity in Measure for Measure
RICHARD STRIER
Shakespeare and Legal Systems: The Better the Worse (but Not Vice Versa)
IV. LAW, POLITICS, AND COMMUNITY IN SHAKESPEARE
KATHY EDEN
Liquid Fortification and the Law in King Lear
STANLEY CAVELL
Saying in The Merchant of Venice
MARIE THERESA O’CONNOR
A British People: Cymbeline and the Anglo-Scottish Union Issue
MARTHA C. NUSSBAUM
“Romans, Countrymen, and Lovers”: Political Love and the Rule of Law in Julius Caesar
DIANE P. WOOD
A Lesson from Shakespeare to the Modern Judge on Law, Disobedience, Justification, and Mercy
V. ROUNDTABLE
Shakespeare’s Laws: A Justice, a Judge, a Philosopher, and an English Professor
Contributors
Index