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The Continuing Relevance of Ars Poetica to Legal Scholarship and the Modern Lawyer

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Abstract

In this late modern era within which the basic values of life have been reordered (driven by globalisation, the corporate agenda and mass communication technologies), the individual has effectively been reduced to a mere abstraction. It might be argued that the rational, moral and humanistic concept of freedom has, to a great extent, been compromised by a consequent crisis within the intelligentsia. These groups, in particular the gatekeepers of a classical liberal approach to legal scholarship, are caught between the twin evils of increased unreflective populism and pragmatism evident within many law schools and modern legal institutions. Although a contested term, defenders of the ‘socio-legal’ tradition, who place the humanities at the heart of legal research and education, are obliged to restate with increased determination the utility of the liberal arts and literature to the law profession and wider legal community. In a normative environment, law and narrative are inextricably linked and narrative poetry is not only invaluable to explaining the origins and location of the legal tradition, but also elicits a mode of understanding which transcends the boundaries of narrowlydefined legal hermeneutics—which often only addresses issues of an operational nature. French novelist Flaubert claimed “chaque notaire porte en soi les débris d’un poète” (Flaubert in Madame bovary (trans: Wall, G.), Penguin Classics, London, 1960: 269), paraphrased by American civil rights lawyer, Clarence Darrow, as “inside every lawyer is the wreck of a poet” (Lukas in Big trouble: a murder in a small western town sets off a struggle for the soul of America, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1997: 323). In an age of disenchantment, this paper explores the poetic form as an important medium within which to understand the nature and function of law in a society of differentiated individuals.

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Notes

  1. It has been suggested that Donne may have had an actual mentor-student relationship with Coscus which may explain the vitriolic condemnation. Other accounts have suggested the poem is a veiled reference to Sir Edward Coke (1552–1634), Eduardus Cucus in Latin, although he had no interest in literature and was in no sense, a poet.

  2. The generation of lawyers to which Donne belonged comprised a socio-literary culture and spent a good deal of time at the Inns writing poetry and satires, rather than sullying their hands with the unabashed pursuit of wealth and power.

  3. The folk group Peter, Paul and Mary released their version three weeks later and this cemented the song as an anthem for a generation eager for social change.

  4. In later editions Day Lewis distinguishes political verse as ‘impure poetry’ (relating to actualities of humanity and the real world) from the limitations of the often vague themes chosen by the ‘pure poet’ in his ‘neurotic disassociation from the community’.

  5. This is one of the most historically malleable poems; of which there are several versions ranging from approximately 40 to 225 lines, and referring to more than 110 Members of Parliament.

  6. UK Liberal Democrat peer Lord Lester has recently published a Private Member’s Defamation Bill seeking to reform libel law which inter alia would protect those reporting on proceedings in parliament and other issues of public concern.

  7. Also illustrated by the poem is the gap between the layman’s understanding of ordinary terms and their revaluation when appropriated for a legal purpose; thus Weldy’s confusion over the legal definition of the word ‘fellow’, as he says on the witness stand “saying over and over, ‘I didn’t know him at all’”.

  8. Nietzsche’s explanation of ressentiment and asceticism functions as primarily an emotional stratagem which demonstrates how social influences are able to respond, either intellectually, physiologically or emotionally to the experience of unbearable human suffering.

  9. Poetry is considered to precede other forms of literature including, for example, Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh (dated from around 2700 BC), parts of the Bible, the surviving works of Homer (the Iliad and the Odyssey), and the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.

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  1. School of Law, De Montfort University, Leicester, LE1 9BH, UK

    Julia J. A. Shaw

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Shaw, J.J.A. The Continuing Relevance of Ars Poetica to Legal Scholarship and the Modern Lawyer. Int J Semiot Law 25, 71–93 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-010-9214-5

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