Love on Trial: Nature, Law and Same-Sex Marriage in the Court of Shakespeare
Desmond Manderson and Paul Yachnin, Love on Trial (2004) 49 McGill L J 475
37 Pages Posted: 3 Aug 2012
Date Written: August 2, 2003
Abstract
This paper provides the text of a judgment on the legality of same sex marriage in the court of Shakespeare, a radically interdisciplinary pedagogical experiment undertaken by ENglish and Law students at McGill University. The court considered oral arguments and briefs from counsel on the meaning of marriage in the Shakespearean corpus, particular the marriage comedies, and further examined the jurisprudential practices of the Court, and the question of interpretation over time. The question is, is marriage immutable or cultural dynamic and what does a careful reading of Shakesepare tell us about these legal and social questions?
Keywords: legal interpretation, hermeneutics, Shakespeare, law and literature, same sex marriage, cultural and social history
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