Where there's a Will, there's a weigh: Law, English lit and the issue of religious accommodation

The 5th annual Shakespeare Moot Project will take place in the Moot Court of the Faculty of Law on Tuesday, March 20, 2007. This exciting and innovative project involves McGill professors Desmond Manderson and Paul Yachnin in an interdisciplinary study involving students from the Faculty of Law and the Department of English.

The Shakespeare Moot Project involves legal argument before a specially commissioned panel of international scholars on a contemporary "case." But the only law relevant to the court is the Complete Works of Shakespeare. In previous years the court has explored the contemporary significance of our greatest playwright, and deepened our understanding of important social issues — looking at the excuse of "following orders" through the lens of Henry V; same sex marriage through A Midsummer Night's Dream; and the laws of evidence through Othello.

This year, the moot problem involves another issue of enormous contemporary interest. A young woman is refused admission to a Montreal high school for wearing the niqab, an Islamic form of coverage for women. Unable to resolve the issue, the family and the high school bring their case to the Court of Shakespeare. The question for the Court is deep, and touches on matters central to both Shakespearean studies and modern politics. Drawing in particular on Measure for Measure, Shakespeare's great critique of law and religion, and Hamlet, his greatest exploration of the nature of identity, the Court of Shakespeare will seek to understand the relationship between the secular and the sacred, and between the individual and the State, by delving into the complex principles and jurisprudence that Shakespeare has left us.

The Court offers us a rare moment in which to learn law through literature and literature through law. The crowds that assemble to observe it are testimony to its approach, equal parts entertaining and thought-provoking. There will be three moots next Tuesday, at 4:00, 5:15 and 6:30 p.m. Audience welcome.

Professor Desmond Manderson holds the Canada Research Chair in Law and Discourse at the McGill Faculty of Law. Professor Paul Yachnin holds the Tomlinson Chair of Shakespeare Studies in the Department of English of McGill University.

For further information, contact desmond.manderson [at] mcgill.ca (Desmond Manderson) or paul.yachnin [at] mcgill.ca (Paul Yachnin).