Literature and the Law

Authors

Melissa J. Ganz, Marquette UniversityFollow

Document Type

Contribution to Book

Publication Date

2023

Publisher

Taylor & Francis (Routledge)

Source Publication

The Routledge Companion to Eighteenth-Century Literatures in English

Source ISSN

9781003271208

Original Item ID

DOI: 10.4324/9781003271208-22

Abstract

The law underwent significant changes in eighteenth-century Britain. Although these changes resulted in an expansion of rights and freedoms for some British subjects, the liberalization of the law was far from complete. This chapter considers how writers working in a range of genres revealed the limits of the law, focusing on debates about the nature and ends of criminal justice, the legal regulation of marriage, and the legality of slavery and the slave trade. In different ways and to different degrees, the chapter shows, writers challenged and reimagined the inequalities inscribed in and fostered by the legal system.

Comments

"Literature and the Law," in The Routledge Companion to Eighteenth-Century Literatures in English. Eds. Sarah Eron, Nicole N. Aljoe and Suvir Kaul. New York: Taylor & Francis (Routledge) 2023: 203-215. DOI.

Recommended Citation

Ganz, Melissa J., "Literature and the Law" (2023). English Faculty Research and Publications. 629.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/english_fac/629