Law and literature movement with its history and emergence as a new subject for

students of law?

This movement focuses on the interdisciplinary connection between law and literature. The
movement has broad and potentially far reaching implications with the future teaching methods
of legal texts. Both the discipline is about reading between the lines. Combining literature’s
ability to provide unique insight into the human condition through the text with legal
framework that regulates those human experiences in reality gives a democratic judiciary a
new and dynamic approach.
Recent Development of this discipline can be related to USA, where James Boyd White, whose
book “The Legal Imagination” contributed immensely to the development of this literature of
movement. So much so, that that he is credited as the Father and pioneer of the Law &
Literature Movement. It focused on the questions emphasizing the relationship of legal texts to
literary analysis. It gained substantial ground in academics.
The very basis of the development of this discipline lies within the intellectual development of
law in general. There was a growing doubt about whether law in isolation is source of value
and meaning, or whether it must be linked with the large cultural or philosophical context
to give it a meaning.
Law in literature is a view specifically concerned with the way in which legal situations are
presented in literature. They place a high value on the independent view from which literary
writers are able to see the law. These authors should teach about the human condition and the
laws effect on it.
Literary works of authors like William Shakespeare, Lewis Carol, Franz Kafka, Albert Camus,
Charles Dickens, etc. are cited by various judges in their judgements. The fictional situations
presented in literature can tell a great deal about political and social situations.
Robert Weisberg, believes that law in literature offers fertile possibilities. Literature is valued
for its ability to cause one to relate to others. Similar ability is required in the legal domain too
and therefore subject matters of novel make them better and help in instructing law students.
Benjamin N. Cardozo, was a proponent of law and literature. He believed that style should
not be separated from substance. He brought judicial process to life through eloquent prose,
anecdotes and practical allusions. All of them were of the believe that the structure and spirit
of literature is very similar to that of law which requires close attention to the text. They
propounded the idea that Today’s Imagination = Futures social reality. Therefore one cannot
distinguish literature’s imagination from the law’s social construct.
Robert Weisberg and Richard Wiesberg A.K.A. Weisberg brothers contended, argued and
advocated that great literature are based on certain conflicts which are very similar to different
kinds of disputes.
The importance of this new branch of subject can be seen as now the world’s most prestigious
university of law, Harvard law school has incorporated the law and morality as one of its paper
which tries to inculcate the emotional and social values in young law students with the help of
collaborating various literary texts especially Shakespeare’s. At Kings College in London they
have a module to teach students law and literature in collaborative manner. Various Novel and
plays such as Justice By Galsworthy, Julius Caesar are quite famous for their legal implications.
Albert Camus stories also have same touch.
Thus this movement has effectively established the relation between law and literature which
serves in societies betterment.