Law and Nineteenth-Century Literature

Abstract

This article examines the connections between law and literature, briefly considering work accomplished in this interdisciplinary field before focusing upon Charles Dickens's debate with the legal reformer and barrister James Fitzjames Stephen over the role of fiction during the nineteenth century. I contend that their altercation demonstrates how Dickens's presentation of alternative modes of administering justice through the fictive language of his novels was perceived to be a real threat to lawmakers such as Stephen.