Great Trials and the Law in the Historical Imagination: A Law and Humanities Approach

187 Pages·2022·2.365 MB·English

by  Russell L. Dees

Great Trials and the Law in
the Historical Imagination
Great Trials and the Law in the Historical Imagination: A Law and Humanities
Approach introduces readers to the history of law and issues in historical, legal,
and artistic interpretation by examining six well-known historical trials through
works of art that portray them.
Great Trials provides readers with an accessible, non-dogmatic introduction
to the interdisciplinary ‘law and humanities’ approach to law, legal history, and
legal interpretation. By examining how six famous/notorious trials in Western
history have been portrayed in six major works of art, the book shows how
issues of legal, historical, and artistic interpretation can become intertwined:
the different ways we embed law in narrative, how we bring conscious and
subconscious conceptions of history to our interpretation of law, and how
aesthetic predilections and moral commitments to the law may influence our
views of history. The book studies well-known depictions of the trials of
Socrates, Cicero, Jesus, Thomas More, the Salem ‘witches,’ and John Scopes
and provides innovative analyses of those works. The epilogue examines how
historical methodology and historical imagination are crucial to both our
understanding of the law and our aesthetic choices through various readings of
Harper Lee’s beloved character, Atticus Finch.
The first book to employ a ‘law and humanities’ approach to delve into the
institution of the trial and what it means in different legal systems at different
historical times, this book will appeal to academics, students, and others with
interests in legal history, law and popular culture, and law and the humanities.
Russell L. Dees teaches law at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He
holds a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. from the
Claremont Graduate University.

Great Trials and the Law in
the Historical Imagination
A Law and Humanities Approach
Russell L. Dees
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Russell L. Dees
The right of Russell L. Dees to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Dees, Russell L., author.
Title: Great trials and the law in the historical imagination: a law and
humanities approach/Russell L. Dees.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2023. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022005669 (print) | LCCN 2022005670 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032299952 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032299969 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003302971 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Law in literature. | Law and literature. |
Literature–History and criticism.
Classification: LCC PN56.L33 D44 2023 (print) | LCC PN56.L33 (ebook) |
DDC 809/.933554–dc23/eng/20220518
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022005669
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022005670
ISBN: 978-1-032-29995-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-29996-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-30297-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003302971
Typeset in Bembo
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
To my daughters

Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
PART I
Ancients 15
1 The Trial of Socrates (399 B.C.E.): Democracy and
Truth in the Apology 17
2 Cicero and the Trial of Gaius Verres (70 B.C.E.):
‘Civic Corruption,’ the Rule of Law, and the
Analogy of Republican Rome 33
3 The Trial of Jesus (30/33 C.E.): Law, Narrative, and
Nomos in the Gospel according to Mark 56
PART II
Moderns 75
4 The Trial of Thomas More (1535): Authentic Selfhood
and Procedural Law in A Man for All Seasons 77
5 The Salem Witch Trials (1692): The Tragedy of Law
in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible 96
viii Contents
6 The Great Monkey Trial (1925): Historical ‘Memory’
and the ‘Politics of Eternity’ 113
Epilogue: The Vicissitudes of a Fictional Character: Time,
Atticus Finch, and Constitutional Evil 137
Appendix 1 Summary of Historical Background and New
Testament Source Differences 155
Appendix 2 Procedural Issues in the Trial of Thomas More 162
Appendix 3 A Digression on Evolution and Religion 170
Index 175
Acknowledgements
I stand indebted to the many friends on whom I’ve inflicted earlier drafts of
this book, all of whom have borne the burden good-naturedly. First and fore-
most, I must thank Ditlev Tamm, whose wit and erudition made teaching
the course on which this book is based such a joy. I also want to thank our
students, whose curiosity and enthusiasm was such an inspiration. For their
patient and invaluable comments, I thank Richard Dees, Dan Hardt, Maria
Beisheim, Karen-Margrethe Simonsen, and Helle Porsdam.