Updated: Wed, 10/02/2024 - 13:45

From Saturday, Oct. 5 through Monday, Oct. 7, the Downtown and Macdonald Campuses will be open only to McGill students, employees and essential visitors. Many classes will be held online. Remote work required where possible. See Campus Public Safety website for details.


Du samedi 5 octobre au lundi 7 octobre, le campus du centre-ville et le campus Macdonald ne seront accessibles qu’aux étudiants et aux membres du personnel de l’Université McGill, ainsi qu’aux visiteurs essentiels. De nombreux cours auront lieu en ligne. Le personnel devra travailler à distance, si possible. Voir le site Web de la Direction de la protection et de la prévention pour plus de détails.

Course Readings

The jurisprudence of the court

StudyGuide06-07 [.pdf] (38k): Study Guide 2006-07

FactPattern06-07 [.pdf] (28k): Fact Pattern 2006-07

Manderson-ToutCourt [.pdf] (0.8mb): Desmond Manderson, "In the tout court of Shakespeare: Interdisciplinary Pedagogy in Law" [.pdf] (2004) 54 Journal of Legal Education 283.

MandersonYachnin-LoveOnTrial [.pdf] (1.4mb): Desmond Manderson and Paul Yachnin, "Love on Trial: Nature, Law, and Same-Sex Marriage in the Court of Shakespeare" [.pdf] (2004) 49 McGill Law J 475.

Not Drowning, Waiving [.pdf] (0.3mb): Desmond Manderson, Paul Yachnin, et al, "Not Drowning, Waiving: Responsibility to Others in the Court of Shakespeare" in a forthcoming special issue of Law, Culture & the Humanities. Full text of the article and accompanying judgments.

Theories of interpretation

Cover-Nomos [.pdf] (1.1mb) or Cover-Nomos2 [.pdf] (7.3mb): Robert Cover, "Nomos and Narrative" [.pdf] (1983) 97 Harvard Law Review 4.

Dworkin-Integrity [.pdf] (0.4mb) or Dworkin-Integrity2 [.pdf] (4.7mb): Ronald Dworkin, "Integrity in Law" in Law's Empire [.pdf] (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 1986), 225-239.

Hart-ConceptOfLaw [.pdf] (1mb) or Hart-ConceptOfLaw2 [.pdf] (10mb): H.L.A. Hart, The Concept of Law [.pdf] (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1961), 79-81, 91-103, 107-108, 123-129, 136-41.

Hart-Positivism [.pdf] (1.2mb): H.L.A. Hart, "Positivism and the Separation of Law & Morals" [.pdf] (1958) 71 Harvard Law Review 593-629.

Fuller-Positivism [.pdf] (1.4mb): Lon Fuller, "Positivism and Fidelity to Law" [.pdf] (1958) 71 Harvard Law Review 630-672.

Constitutional texts

McCulloch-v-Maryland [.pdf] (0.5mb): McCullock v. Maryland 4 Wheaton 316 [.pdf] (1819), reprinted online: http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/10.htm

BNA24-Edwards-v-AGC [.pdf] (0.5mb): Re Section 24 of the BNA; Henrietta Muir Edwards et al v Attorney General for Canada [1930] 1 D.L.R. 98; 1929 D.L.R. LEXIS1332.

Murphy-Originalism [.pdf] (0.2mb) or Murphy-Originalism2 [.pdf] (2.5mb): Walter F. Murphy et al. "Originalism" in American Constitutional Interpretation 2nd ed., [.pdf] (Westbury, New York: Foundation Press, 1995), 389-393.

Scalia-Originalism [.pdf] (0.2mb) or Scalia-Originalism2 [.pdf] (3.1mb): Antonin Scalia, "Originalism: The Lesser Evil" in Walter F. Murphey et al. American Constitutional Interpretation 2nd ed., [.pdf] (Westbury, New York: Foundation Press, 1995), 231-236 [originally published in [.pdf] (1989) 57 U. Cinn. L. Rev. 849].

Brennan-Constitution [.pdf] (0.2mb) or Brennan-Constitution2 [.pdf] (4.1mb): William J. Brennan, Jr., "The Constitution of the United States: Contemporary Ratification" in Walter F. Murphey et al. American Constitutional Interpretation 2nd ed., [.pdf] (Westbury, New York: Foundation Press, 1995), 236-243 [Lecture delivered at Georgetown University, Oct. 12, 1985; also published in [.pdf] (1986) 27 S. Tex. L.J. 433].

Law versus literature

Goodrich-CourtsOfLove [.pdf] (1.9mb): Peter Goodrich, "Law in the Courts of Love: Andreas Capellanus and the Judgments of Love" [.pdf] (1996) 48 Stan. L. Rev. 633.

Nussbaum-PoetsAsJudges [.pdf] (1.3mb): Martha Nussbaum, "Poets as Judges" from Poetic Justice [.pdf] (Boston: Beacon Press, 1995).

Posner-LawAndLit [.pdf] (1.9mb) or for higher resolution Posner-LawAndLit-Chap2-part1 [.pdf] (10.1mb) and Posner-LawAndLit-Chap2-part2 [.pdf] (11.1mb) and Posner-LawAndLit-Chap5-part1 [.pdf] (10mb) and Posner-LawAndLit-Chap5-part2 [.pdf] (10.3mb): Richard Posner, Law and Literature: A Misunderstood Relation [.pdf] (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988), chapters 2 and 5.

Derrida-BeforeTheLaw [.pdf] (1.2mb): Jacques Derrida, "Before the Law" from Acts of Literature [.pdf] (NY: Routledge, 1992).

Materials for the 2005-06 case

Dawson-SecularPerformance [.pdf] (66k): Anthony Dawson, "Shakespeare and Secular Performance".

Diehl-PaulinasMagic [.pdf] (65k): Huston Diehl, "'Does Not the Stone Rebuke Me?': The Pauline Rebuke and Paulina's Lawful Magic in The Winter's Tale".

Douzinas-LawDeathbound [.pdf] (1.1mb): Costas Douzinas, "Law Deathbound" in Desmond Manderson, ed., Courting Death [.pdf] (London: Pluto, 1999), 163-180.

Greenblatt-HamletPurgatory1 [.pdf] (Part 1, 9.2mb) and Greenblatt-HamletPurgatory2 [.pdf] (Part 2, 12mb): Stephen Greenblatt, "Remember Me", in Hamlet in Purgatory, [.pdf] (Princeton: Princeton UP, 2001), 205-257.

Knapp-Tribe [.pdf] (13.6mb): Jeffrey Knapp, "Introduction", in Shakespeare's Tribe: Church, Nation, and Theatre in Renaissance England, [.pdf] (Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2002), 1-21.

Nonet-AntigonesLaw [.pdf] (1.8mb): Philippe Nonet, "Antigone's Law" [.pdf] (2006) 2 Law, Culture and the Humanities 314-335; and commentaries on it [.pdf] (2006) 2 Law, Culture and the Humanities, 336-348

Pamuk-HowWritePoems [.pdf] (0.8mb): Orhan Pamuk, "How Do You Write Poems?" in Snow, trans. Maureen Freely, [.pdf] (NY: Vintage Books, 2005 [.pdf] (2002)), 117-29.

Shugar-Habits [.pdf] (6.5mb): Debora Shugar, "Introduction", in Habits of Thought in the English Renaissance: Religion, Politics, and the Dominant Culture, [.pdf] (Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1997), 1-16.

TudorDocuments [.pdf] (0.2mb): Selected Tudor Documents on Religion and the State compiled from various sources

The situation of literature

Scarry-MadeUp [.pdf] (0.4mb): Elaine Scarry, "The Made-Up and the Made-Real" in Field Work: Sites of Literary and Cultural Studies, Eds. Marjorie Garber, Paul Franklin and Rebecca Walkowitz, [.pdf] (Routledge: New York & London, 1996), 214-224.

Volosinov-SocialInteraction [.pdf] (0.7mb): V.N. Volosinov, from Social Interaction and the Bridge of Words.

Cover-ViolenceWord [.pdf] (2mb): Robert Cover, "Violence and the Word" in Austin Sarat, ed., Narrative, Violence, and the Law, 203-38.

Constable-FieldPain [.pdf] (0.9mb): Marianne Constable, "The Field of Pain and Death," Chapter 6 from Just Silences, 132-48.

Bourdieu-CulturalProduction [.pdf] (2mb): Pierre Bourdieu, from The Field of Cultural Production.

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