Recommend me books centering around Law

[lattywatty]

Hi there. I was just looking for some books which really focus on law. These could be fiction or non-fiction; I'll give you an outline of what I mean for both:

Non-fiction:
Anything a bit more specific that just setting out the general principles of law. Something interesting which focusses on something specific and different. The perfect example book for this is "Eve was Framed" which is a critique of the british legal system and how it fails to properly represent women. Also "The Justice Game" has been recommended to me and seems like a good read, having an account on a few unusual trials by a former barrister.

Fiction:
Any fiction novels which focus on perhaps a case or even a lawyer as a character or explores some ideas of law or, well, anything to do with the law, really. Not just basic though, something which law is quite key to the novel (i.e. not just somebody goes to prison after a quick trial in a courtroom which lasts for less than a chapter or so). To give you some ideas of what I mean, I've been recommended "To Kill a Mockingbird" as it, apparently, focusses a lot on some aspects of law and shows the model of integrity for lawyers. I have no other examples but I think you get what I mean.

Thank you very much for any ideas :D

[dfloyd]

Some who lived very interesting lives are William Fallon, Clarence Darrow. Both of these have had numerous books written about them. Adele Rogers St. John wrote a book about her father, another famous attorney.

You wont get much law out of To Kill a Mocking Bird. A good book, but the law is not its major theme. For modern fiction with the law as a central theme, try Scott Turrow. Ignore anything by John Grisham

[kiki1982]

You could try Kafka's Castle as it deal with someone who tries to become a land surveyor in some village where he was allegedly appointed. I won't tell you the whole thing, but it is hilarious. Kafka was also a lawyer... That's maybe why.

If I am not mistaken, also The Trial deals with law-things.

However, if you do not like things that are unfinished (I think the guy had something with starting but not finishing), then do not start on either of the two, as both end in the middle of it.

[_Shannon_]

There is no better book for you than Bleak House by Charles Dickens.

You could also give the play 12 Angry Men a try. Also the second half of Native Son by Richard Wright.

[Emil Miller]

You might like to try my novel Pro Bono Publico which deals with politics and the law in equal measure as the two leading characters are a politician and a lawyer. There is a good deal of legal procedure involved as the lawyer works his way up from barrister to become Lord of Appeal in Ordinary; one of the highest legal positions in the country. The book is published under my pseudonym Emil Miller and is available from Amazon among others.

[TurquoiseSunset]

The OP made me think of that 'lawyer' in The Skeleton Key...so what are your motives Lattywatty? :lol:

[Wilde woman]

Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. It's a dramatized account of the Scopes Monkey trial about Darwinism.

[Night_Lamp]

Shannon beat me to it: Bleak House, and Jarndyce vs Jarndyce- the case that dragged on for decades, and eventually ruined the lives of the people who are entangled in it.

(On a fun side note, there is also a character who spontaneously combusts!)

[sixsmith]

Hi lattywatty,

Richard Posner, currently a judge on the US Court of Appeals (7th circuit), has written a book called Law and Literature, which could of great assistance to you. I've not read it, but I know that it deals with the purported intersection between the law and literature and features authors such as Kafka, Camus, Coetzee and even Shakespeare.

John Mortimer's Rumpole novels are surely worth a look. They focus on the travails of Horace Rumpole, a QC who will defend anyone. Mortimer was himself a barrister for nigh on 60 years, and thus the novels will tell you a fair bit about the venerable traditions and follies of the English legal system.

I've read Geoffrey Robertson's The Justice Game and it's quite interesting. It recounts his experience in a number of famous trials including Oz magazine and The Romans in Britain. I find Robertson to be a bit smug, but I suppose he is a barrister after all. I've also heard that his work on John Cooke, The Tyrannicide Brief, is a good read.

[Basil]

The Trial of Joan of Arc and The Crucible (although not a novel)

[kasie]

...... Ignore anything by John Grisham

Now why did I guess when I saw the title of this thread that some very early poster would advise you to avoid Grisham. :smilewinkgrin: With my prediliction for the occasional 'recreational' read, I quite like Grisham - sure, he's no 'great writer' but his characters are quite believable and the plots race along. I don't know how accurate his portrayal of the American legal system is, however.

Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle has a 'Judgement of Solomon' theme.

[kelby_lake]

The Trial
Crime and Punishment
Les Miserables (well, maybe not the courts but the punishment system)

The Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure might be good bets too, particularly Merchant.