Dickens and the Law

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Charles Dickens' sustained interest in the law and the legal system reveals itself in almost every novel he wrote. In this comprehensive and engaging book Michael Lynch a barrister of the Middle Temple analyses Dickens' fascination with crime and the courts and his frequent disgust with lawyers.</span></p><p><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Dickens and the Law</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> revisits the legal venues and characters running through </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Bleak House</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>David Copperfield</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> and ten other Dickens novels - which have embedded the images of lawyers such as Tulkinghorn Jaggers and Vholes in the public's memory - and in so doing examines how Dickens deals with some of the most profound questions of social relationships crime and punishment and the nature of our country's constitution.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>From exposing the iniquities of the law in </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The Pickwick Papers</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> the cruelty of the workhouse and the savage buffoonery of the magistracy in </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Oliver Twist</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> to the wider consideration of our society in </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Barnaby Rudge</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> and </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Little Dorrit</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> Dickens not only casts an ironic eye over the legal system but gives us a close-up examination of the problems the legal system is trying to solve.</span></p><p><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Dickens and the Law</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> is an engrossing read for anyone with an interest in the law - and how it inspired and tormented one of the greatest novelists in the English language.</span></p><p></p><p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)><u>Review</u></strong></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>'Carefully organised and thoughtfully crafted... The analysis is peppered with excerpts of Dickens' writings and it's this combination which adds new dimension and depth to well-known characters and places.' </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Middle Templar Magazine</em></p><p></p>