The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-14
SHAKESPEARE AND THE LAW.
He Used Many legal Phrases, Bnt
Was Deficient in Theory.
From the Albany Law Journal

From the Albany Law Journal.
William c. Devecmon of Maryland has
written little book entitled In re
Shakespeare's Legal Requirements" He
gives a number of instances i'm the plays
wherein the dramaust made incorrect use
of legal Technology. His references to the
famous trial scene in 1.-The Merchant Of
Venice" are particularly apt, and calcu-
dated to convince the unprecedented investi-
gator and student that Shakespeares lit
tie knowledge of the law hardly reached
beyond the danger point Particular
criticism is passed on Portals injunction
to Snylock to spill mo jot of blood in
taking his coveted pound of flesh from the
merchants breast who ever heard OF
flesh without blood?" inquiries our author.
Again, the court having pronounced judS
ment and awarded execution Shylock is
told that he must execute the judgment
himself, something which il was clearly
the business and duty of the court to do.
Mr.. Devecmon's criticism that no court
of justice can have the legal power or the
moral right to make a suitor therein re-
sponsible for the execution of its judg-
ments is certainly well taken, though the
dramatist may have purposely made that
scene for purely dramatic reasons And
again, the fair Portia tells the Jew that he
shall have nothing but the penalty, and
If thou tak'st more
Or less than a just pound, be it so much
As makes il light or heavy in the substance
or the division of the twentieth part
OF one poor scruple ,nay,if the scale do turn
But in the estimation of a hair.
Thou diest, and all thy goods are confis-
cate.
"Can any one imagine IL being a criminal
act for a creditor to take less than the
amount due hing asks Mr.. Devecmon.
But the climax of absurdity comes when
the court Immediately resolves itself into
one of criminal jurisdiction and the Jews
goods and life are declared forfeited, and
for what? For having dared to make
contract which that same court had a
moment before declared valid and bind
ing" The deed of gift of all he died
possessed, which he was required to re-
cord in court, is pointed out as another
blunder in law, for it is a well known and
fixed principle of the common law that
man cannot convey that which he has
not though he afterward acquire it-only
things in esse, having an actual and po-
tential existence, were subjects capable of
gift or grant.
Most lawyers will probably agree with
Mr.. Devecmon's statement that those who,
like Lord Campbell and Senator Davis,
desire to swear Shakespeare in as a law
yer learned In the law had best omit con-
sideration of The Merchant of Venice"
The author concludes that Shakespeare
had no knowledge of the technique of the
law and no just appreciation of those fun
damental principles of justice which are
the basis of all law; that though he ex-
celed all other men who ever lived in
knowledge of and in ability to portray
human nature in all its aspects, his ideas
Of human rights were narrow and bigOted
"a conclusion to which we believe all the
known facts of the poets life, as well as
a careful study OF his works, are calcu-
lated to lead the fair-minded investigator.