"LAW IN SHAKESPEARE."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 113, 16 May 1933, Page 13

"LAW IN SHAKESPEARE."

PROFESSOR ALGIE'S LECTURE. Shakespeare's knowledge of judicial procedure and his grasp of legal principles wete interestingly dealt with by Professor R M/Algie last night in the first or a series of winter lectures, entitled "Shakespeare and the Lawyers,' delivered to members of the British Drama League and its affiliated societies. _ The lecturer pointed out that in tne plays of Shakespeare frequent references were made to the situation of buildings of the Inns of Court, and to the gardens which ■ adjoined them. In accordance With tradition, the tamo.is plucking ol the roses scene in "Kins Htory VII. was set in the Temple Gardens. Various passages in the plays indicated that the poet had more than a layman's grasp of legal principles. He oftea cited legal maxune, usually not word for word, but with an accuracy beyond the power of anyone except a lawyer or one with a real appreciation of law. Very probably he had been associated in eome way with, tne law. Although the Inne- of Court were I inhabited not only by students but by some of the greatest literary and. political men of the day, there was no record of Shakespeare having occupied chambers. "The Merchant of Venice," continued Professor Algie, was a legal travesty, as Shakespeare must have known. In Elizabethan England, Shylock would probably have obtained judgment on his money claim, with costs, and would have failed in his claim for a pound of flesh. Also he 'would probably have been punished for contempt in asking the Court to enforce it. That, 'however, would not have suited Shakespeare's purpose, eo he permitted dramatic consider; Nations to prevail.