LAW IN SHAKESPEARE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21492, 16 May 1933, Page 14

LAW IN SHAKESPEARE

AN INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE WORKING OF INNS OF COURT "Shakespeare and tho Lawyers" was tho subject of a lecture delivered by Professor R. M. Algie last evening to members of tho British Drama League and its affiliated societies. The address was tho first of a series planned for tho winter. As an introduction to his subject Professor Algio sketched tho constitution and working of tho Inns of Court in tho reign of Elizabeth, together with the methods of legal education used in them and the social lifo of the barristers and students. The inns, he said, wero very similar in constitution to the medieval guilds. Instruction was given by the seniors and attention was paid to culture and the social arts as well as to purely intellectual studies. Frequent references were made in the plays of Shakespeare to the situation of tho buildings and their relations to one another, and to the gardens which adjoined them. The famous scene in "King Henry V 11.," of the plucking of red and white roses, was set by Shakespeare, in accordance with tradition, in the Temple Gardens Various passages in the plays indicated that Shakespeare had more than a layman's grasp of legal principles. He often cited legal maxims, usually not word for word, but with an accuracy beyond tho power of anyone except a lawyer or someone with a real appreciation of law. It seemed very probable that he had been associated with the law in some way. The Inns of Court were inhabited not only by students, but by some of the greatest literary and political men of the day. It was quite usual for parents to send their sons to tho inns after the university, because they were good social centres find places of intellectual and moral training. However, no record could be found of Shakespeare having occupied chambers. Discussing Shakespeare's knowledge of judicial procedure, Professor Algie said that the trial in "The Merchant of Venice" was a legal travesty, as Shakespeare must have well 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. He would probably also have boon punished for contempt in asking the Court to enforce it. This would not have suited Shakespeare's purpose, so ho let dramatic considerations prevail.