Law and literature

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Behind the term law and literature stands a research direction that is interdisciplinary between law and literary studies and deals with the relationship between law and literature. It is strongly represented as the “Law & Literature Movement” in the Anglo-American culture. In recent times, however, it has also been increasingly recognized in Germany. In 2019, for example, the “Collaborative Research Center 1385 Law and Literature” was set up by the German Research Foundation at the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster .

Law and literature is mainly divided into two research areas: "Law in literature" ( English law in literature) and "Law as literature" ( English law as literature).

History of the research area

In individual cases, German legal scholars pointed out the relationship between law and literature as early as the early 19th century . Especially Gustav Radbruch and Eugen Wohlhaupter should be mentioned here . However, the field of law and literature did not develop into a veritable research direction until the mid-1970s with the publication of the monograph The Legal Imagination by James Boyd White . Leading American scholars in law and literature today include Richard H. Weisberg , Robert Weisberg , Allan Hutchinson , Ian Ward, and Peter Brooks . In Germany, among others, Klaus Lüderssen , Heinz Müller-Dietz , Peter Häberle , Daniel Halft , Peter Schneider , Thomas Vormbaum , Bodo Pieroth and Klaus Stierstorfer deal with the subject.

Law in literature

This sub-area deals with legal motives in the literature as well as with real legal cases taken up by the literature. Among other things, the relationship between real legal events and literary processing is investigated. The search for legal motives or references in literature is in principle unlimited, but in the past has focused on authors such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Heinrich von Kleist , Robert Musil , Franz Kafka , Friedrich Dürrenmatt as well as Bernhard Schlink and Janko Ferk in German and William Shakespeare , Herman Melville and John Maxwell Coetzee are concentrated in the English-speaking world.

Law as literature

Representatives of this research area consider legal texts from a literary point of view. To do this, they apply models of literary theory to legal texts and try to improve or reflect on the analysis and interpretation of legal texts. The starting point for her research is the idea that law (legal texts, judgments, etc.) is always communicated through language and / or writing. The interpretation of the text then serves to ensure its correct application. Since the models of literary theory were also developed for the interpretation of texts, there is an overlap, which the representatives of this research direction would like to use for further knowledge gain.

Law, literature and third disciplines

Literature and law can be the subject of third disciplines. This applies above all to cultural studies , media studies and historical studies : literary and legal practices can be examined as cultural artifacts from a historical perspective . To this extent, literary history and legal history can be pursued in parallel and in mutual exchange. It also deals with the historical development of legal production and reception conditions for literature (e.g. censorship history, development of copyright law). Comparative literature and comparative law can be mutually informed in a similar way . Post-colonial approaches are also made fruitful.

Overall, an opening of the research field law and literature towards broader disciplinary approaches such as law, culture, and the humanities can be observed. This interdisciplinary broadening goes hand in hand with an expansion of the subject area of ​​'literature': Films, TV series or essay writing are also subject of the research area law and literature in a broad sense. Ultimately, in this way, law and literature become potential objects of (comparative) intermediality research and interart studies.

literature

  • Jean-Claude Alexandre Ho: Law and Literature. A left answer to Law and Economics. In: Forum Law. 2008, pp. 86-87. (PDF)
  • Daniel Halft: The scene becomes a tribunal! A study on the relationship between law and literature using the example of the play 'Cyankali' by Friedrich Wolf. BWV, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-8305-1420-6 .
  • Jürgen Joachimsthaler: Legal fictions, court performances and the “as if” of the law: the legal texture as a literary art form. In: Non fiction. Arsenal of the other genera. 3, 2008, pp. 31-49.
  • Klaus Kastner: Literature and law - a never-ending story. In: New legal weekly. ( NJW ) 2003, pp. 609-615.
  • Klaus Kastner: Literature and Change in Legal Thought. Boorberg, Stuttgart / Munich a. a. 1993, ISBN 3-415-01800-8 .
  • Arthur Kaufmann: Relationship between Law and Novellistics. Boorberg, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-415-01339-1 .
  • Arthur Kaufmann: Law and grace in literature. Boorberg, Stuttgart / Munich a. a. 1991, ISBN 3-415-01684-6 .
  • Michael Kilian: Literature and Jurisprudence - Notes on the professional profile of the lawyer. In: Deutsche Richter-Zeitung. ( DRiZ ) 1985, pp. 18-21.
  • Klaus Lüderssen: Productive reflections. Law in literature, theater and film. 2., ext. Edition. Nomos, Baden-Baden 2002, ISBN 3-7890-7912-X .
  • Ulrich Mölk (Ed.): Literature and Law: Literary legal cases from antiquity to the present. Wallstein, Göttingen 1996, ISBN 3-89244-215-0 .
  • Heinz Müller-Dietz: Law and crime in literary reflection. Collected Essays. BWV, Baden-Baden 1999, ISBN 3-8305-0413-6 .
  • Heinz Müller-Dietz: Law and crime in literary reflections. BWV, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-8305-1340-7 .
  • Edward Schramm : Law and Literature. In: Legal worksheets. (JA) 2007, pp. 581-585.
  • Ian Ward: Law and Literature: A Continuing Debate. In: Ders .: Law and Literature: Possibilities and Perspectives. Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 3-27.
  • Richard H. Weisberg: Poethics, and other strategies of law and literature. New York / Oxford 1992.
  • James Boyd White: The Legal Imagination: Studies in the Nature of Legal Thought and Expression. Boston 1973.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For a more detailed explanation of the relationship between law and literature see Daniel Halft: The scene becomes a tribunal! A study on the relationship between law and literature using the example of the play 'Cyankali' by Friedrich Wolf. BWV, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-8305-1420-6 , pp. 1-25.
  2. ^ DFG - German Research Foundation - 14 new Collaborative Research Centers. Retrieved February 27, 2020 .
  3. ^ "Law and Literature": Major project for the University of Münster. In: Westfalenspiegel. May 23, 2019, accessed on February 27, 2020 (German).
  4. ^ Gustav Radbruch: Introduction to Law. 1st edition [1910]. In: Ders., Complete Edition. Volume 1: Philosophy of Law 1st ed. And edited by Arthur Kaufmann , Heidelberg 1987, ISBN 3-8305-1420-4 , p. 91 ff.
  5. ↑ Eugen Wohlhaupter: Poet lawyers. 3 volumes, Tübingen 1953 to 1957.
  6. ↑ For example Anja Sya : Literature and legal knowledge interest . Joachim Maass' novel 'Der Fall Gouffe' and its relationship to the historical model. Dissertation. Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden 2002, ISBN 3-7890-7166-8 .
  7. ↑ See Klaus Lüderssen: 'Law as Literature' or when science becomes art: Deconstruction in Jurisprudence. In: Ders., Productive Reflections. Law in literature, theater and film. 2., ext. Edition. Nomos, Baden-Baden 2002, ISBN 3-7890-7912-X , pp. 47-57.
  8. ^ Bernadette Meyler: Law, Literature, and History: The Love Triangle . In: Elizabeth S. Anker, Bernadette Meyler (Eds.): New Directions in Law and Literature . New York 2017, ISBN 978-0-19-045636-8 , pp. 160-175 . For this Rico David Neugärtner: "New Directions in Law and Literature" - Transatlantic Considerations . In: Law. Journal of Legal Research . 2017, p. 461-475 , doi : 10.5771 / 1868-8098-2017-4-461 .
  9. ^ Robert Darnton: Censors at Work. How States Shaped Literature . New York et al. a. 2014, ISBN 978-0-393-35180-4 .
  10. ^ Paul Saint-Amour: The Copywrights. Intellectual Property and the Literary Imagination . Ithaca, NY, USA 2003, ISBN 0-8014-4077-7 .
  11. ↑ Elizabeth S. Anker: Globalizing Law and Literature . In: Elizabeth S. Anker, Bernadette Meyler (Eds.): New Directions in Law and Literature . New York 2017, ISBN 978-0-19-045636-8 , pp. 210-225 . For this Rico David Neugärtner: "New Directions in Law and Literature" - Transatlantic Considerations . In: Law. Journal of Legal Research . 2017, p. 461-475 , doi : 10.5771 / 1868-8098-2017-4-461 .
  12. ↑ a b Overview in Elizabeth S. Anker, Bernadette Meyler: Introduction . In: Elizabeth S. Anker, Bernadette Meyler (Eds.): New Directions in Law and Literature . New York, NY, USA 2017, ISBN 978-0-19-045636-8 , pp. 1-30 . Cf. also Rico David Neugärtner: "New Directions in Law and Literature" - Transatlantic Considerations . In: Law. Journal of Legal Research . 2017, p. 461-475 , doi : 10.5771 / 1868-8098-2017-4-461 .
  13. ↑ Rico David Neugärtner: Below tiles is the beach. Plastic garbage rule draft (triptych) . In: myops. Reports from the world of law . No. 34 , 2018, ISSN  1865-2301 , p. 4-14 .