Gary Watt
Professor
Mooting Officer
Trusts and Equity; Law and Humanities; Law and Literature; Shakespeare; Performance Rhetoric and Advocacy; Material Culture and Law (esp. Dress); Comparative Private Law
School of Law
S2.34, Social Sciences Building
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom
024 765 23206
Gary's interests are in the fields of: Trusts and Equity; Law and Humanities; Law and Literature; Shakespeare; Performance Rhetoric and Advocacy; Material Culture and Law (esp. Dress); Comparative Private Law.
- Joint Founding Editor (with Paul Raffield) of Law and Humanities (Hart Publishing)
- UK "Law Teacher of the Year 2009"
- National Teaching Fellow 2010
https://www.lawhumanities.net/gary-watt/publications/
- 'Watt, Gary, 2021. 'Passing resemblance : death, masks, and law?s theatrical inheritance. Law Text Culture, 25, pp. 22-52
- Watt, Gary, 2020. Law making music. Law and Humanities, 14 (1), pp. 26-56
- Watt, Gary, 2020. Sound and fury signifying Brexit. Law Text Culture, 24, pp. 1-26
- Watt, Gary, 2018. The art of advocacy: renaissance of rhetoric in the law school. Law and Humanities, 12 (1), pp. 116-137
- Watt, Gary, 2018. Sovereigns, sterling and ?some bastards too!?: Brexit seen from Shakespeare's King John. Journal of International Dispute Resolution, 9 (1), pp. 58-82
- Watt, Gary, 2018. The art of advocacy : renaissance of rhetoric in the law school. Law and Humanities, 12 (1), pp. 116-137
- Watt, Gary, 2017. Sovereigns, Sterling and ?Some Bastards too!': Brexit Seen from Shakespeare?s King John. Journal of International Dispute Settlement, 9 (1), pp. 58-82
- Watt, Gary, 2015. The to be of and : reflections on the bridge. Law and Humanities, 5 (1), pp. 229-240
- Watt, Gary, 2015. The law of dress in Lord of the Flies. Law and Humanities, 8 (2), pp. 174-191
- Watt, Gary, 2015. Free will and folly in as you like it. Polemos: journal of law, literature and culture, 9 (1), pp. 15-35
- Watt, Gary, 2014. The poverty of economics and the hope for humanities. The Journal of Comparative Law, 9 (2), pp. 121-145
- Watt, Gary, 2013. The tyranny of equality and the torment of equity. University of British Columbia Law Review, 46 (2), pp. 187-204
- Watt, Gary, 2012. Having Gods, being greek and getting better : on equity and integrity concerning property and other posited laws in no foundations. No Foundations : journal of extreme legal positivism, pp. 119-143
- Watt, Gary, 2010. Le symbole du sang dans la performance légale et théâtrale de l'Angleterre du début de l'époque moderne. Littératures classiques, 73 (3), pp. 311-323
- Watt, Gary, 2009. The equity of Esther Summerson. Law and Humanities, 3 (1)
- Watt, Gary, 2009. The character of social connection in law and literature : lessons from Bleak House. International Journal of Law in Context, Vol.5 (No.3), pp. 263-280
- Watt, Gary, 2008. Falstaff and the highwaymen : equity as outlaw. Polemos: journal of law, literature and culture, 1, pp. 47-66
- Watt, Gary, 2006. The soul of legal education. Web Journal of Current Legal Issues, 3
- Watt, Gary, 2006. The Eurohypothec and the English mortgage. Maastricht Journal Of European And Comparative Law, 13 (2), pp. 173-193
- Watt, Gary, 2005. Contributory fault and breach of trust. Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, 5 (2), pp. 205-224
- Watt, Gary, 2020. ?That ugly treason of mistrust?: rhetoric of credit and the credit of rhetoric in The Merchant of Venice. Hatchuel, Sarah; Vienne-Guerrin, Nathalie; Hiscock, Andrew (eds.), The Merchant of Venice : A Critical Reader, London, Bloomsbury Academic
- Watt, Gary, 2019. Dickens, Daumier and the Man of Law. Ward, Ian (ed.), A cultural history of law in the age of reform (1820-1920), Bloomsbury Academic
- Watt, Gary, 2018. Notes on a strange eventful history. In Carpi, Daniela; Ost, François (eds.), As You Law It - Negotiating Shakespeare, Berlin ; Boston, Walter de Gruyter GmbH, pp. 227-246
- Watt, Gary, 2016. Shakespeare's Acts of Will. London, Bloomsbury
- Watt, Gary, 2014. To read him by his form : Shakespeare on the matter of proof. Les usages de la preuve d'Henri Estienne a` Je´re´my Bentham, Paris, Hermann
- Watt, Gary, 2013. Rule of the root : Proto-Indo-European domination of legal language. In Freeman, Michael; Smith, Fiona (eds.), Law and language, Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 571-589
- Watt, Gary, 2013. Dress, law and naked truth : a cultural study of fashion and form. London, UK, Bloomsbury Academic
- Watt, Gary, 2012. Comparison as deep appreciation. Monateri, Pier Giuseppe (ed.), Methods of Comparative Law, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar
- Watt, Gary, 2011. Hard cases, hard times and the humanity of law. Bate, Jonathan (ed.), The public value of the humanities, London, Bloomsbury Academic
- Watt, Gary, 2010. Trusts and equity. Oxford, Oxford University Press
- Snape, John, Watt, Gary, 2010. How to moot : a student guide to mooting. Oxford, Oxford University Press
- Todd, Paul, Watt, Gary, 2009. Todd and Watt's cases and materials on equity and trusts. Oxford, Oxford University Press
- Watt, Gary, 2009. Equity stirring : the story of justice beyond law. Oxford, Hart Publishing
- Watt, Gary, 2008. The law of dramatic properties in The Merchant of Venice. In Raffield, Paul; Watt, Gary (eds.), Shakespeare and the law, Oxford, Hart, pp. 237-252
- Watt, Gary, 2007. Unconscionability in property law : a fairy-tale ending?. Dixon, Martin, MA; Griffiths, Gerwyn (eds.), Contemporary perspectives on property, equity and trusts law, Oxford ; New York, Oxford University Press
- Watt, Gary, 2007. The lie of the land : mortgage law as legal fiction. Cooke, Elizabeth (ed.), Modern studies in property law, Hart
- Watt, Gary, 2005. Personal liability for receipt of trust property : allocating the risks. Cooke, Elizabeth (ed.), Modern studies in property law, Hart
- Watt, Gary, 2002. Laches, estopped and election. Birks, Peter; Pretto, Arianna (eds.), Breach of trust, Oxford, Hart Publishing
- Watt, Gary, 2001. Giving unto Caesar : rationality, reciprocity, and legal recognition of religion. O'Dair, Richard; Lewis, A. D. E. (eds.), Law and religion, Oxford, Oxford University Press
- Watt, Gary, 2001. Property rights and wrongs : the frontiers of forfeiture. Cooke, Elizabeth (ed.), Modern studies in property law, Hart
- Watt, Gary, 2018. Performance rhetoric in Shakespeare and law.
- Watt, Gary, 2014. Review of Teaching law and literature by Sarat, A., Frank, C. O. and Anderson, M. (eds). Law & Literature, Routledge, pp. 231-247
Title | Funder | Award start | Award end |
Rhetorical Performance in Courts of Law and Popular Opinion (Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship) | Leverhulme Trust | 30 Sep 2019 | 29 Sep 2022 |
Judgment on Justice Beyond Law: Gary Watt's monograph Equity Stirring: The Story of Justice Beyond Law (Hart, 2009) was cited in a judgment of Australia's highest court (Andrews v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited [2012] HCA 30).
In 2016, which was the four-hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, I toured venues in South-East Australia with the Shakespeare-themed show A Strange Eventful History. The show was conceived by me jointly with Antony Pitts, Director of Australia’s leading professional choral ensemble, The Song Company. My role was to write and perform a narrative text to accompany Shakespearean texts delivered by me alongside music performed by the Song Company. The tour and the text provided opportunities to implement and publicise ideas about rhetorical performance developed in the preceding decade in rhetoric workshops I had led for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Those ideas culminated in my monograph study Shakespeare’s Acts of Will: Law, Testament, and Properties of Performance that was published in 2016, the year of the tour, by Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare. In the course of the tour I gave a number of press interviews and radio interviews, including as the featured guest on Margaret Throsby’s Midday programme, Australia’s equivalent of Desert Island Disks (ABC radio, 21/6/16, 45 minutes).
Other Shakespeare performances include:
- Frome Festival 2019 (Fakespeare: The Great Shakespeare Forgery) One-man show
- Verona, As You Law It (Conference performance with violinist Francesca Lorenzetti)
I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD supervisees. However, please ensure that you have a research proposal which corresponds with the University of Warwick School of Law requirements.