Two-thirds of Shakespeare’s plays have trial scenes, and many deal specifically with lawyers, courts, judges, and points of law. Daniel Kornstein, a practicing attorney, looks at the legal issues and aspects of Shakespeare’s plays and finds fascinating parallels with many legal and social questions of the present day. The Elizabethan age was as litigious as our own, and Shakespeare was very familiar with the language and procedures of the courts. Kill All the Lawyers? examines the ways in which Shakespeare used the law for dramatic effect and incorporated the passion for justice into his great tragedies and comedies and considers the modern legal relevance of his work.
This is a ground-breaking study in the field of literature and the law, ambitious and suggestive of the value of both our literary and our legal inheritance.
Author Bio
Daniel Kornstein was president of the Law and Humanities Institute and is a founding partner of the firm of Kornstein Veisz Wexler & Pollard, LLP, in New York City.
Praise
“An analysis that will interest Shakespeare scholars, enrich the working life of practicing lawyers, and help the lay reader understand why he enjoys Shakespeare in the first place.”—Cardozo Studies in Law and Literature
“Thorough and lucid.”—Times Literary Supplement
“Exhaustive scholarship and searching thought.”—New York Law Journal
“Kornstein’s style is always lucid and often witty.”—Renaissance Quarterly
“Highly recommended to all literate citizens, a genuine contribution to Shakespearean studies.”—Choice
