29/04 12:30pm-2pm: T3 WK1 - Law School Lunchtime Research Seminar - Wednesday 29 April 2026

Law Marketing Resource — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 13:04:50 GMT

When: 12:30 - 14:00, Wed, 29 Apr '26

Where: S2.09 / S2.12

Guest Speaker: Professor Raj Bhala, The University of Kansas

Title: Criteria for the "Rule of Law" and Shakespeare's Measure for Measure

Abstract: William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure (1604) is all about the rule of law. From beginning to end, the play presents both secular and sacred legal issues, and the trade-offs that can and do arise in the everyday lives of everyone on stage, reading the text, or viewing the drama. This article identifies and analyzes the legal and related moral problems of – not by accident – the only play the Bard of Avon (1564-1616) titles after a Biblical passage (namely, in Chapter 6, Verse 38, of The Gospel According to Luke). The thesis urged is that Measure for Measure is through-and-through a legalistic play (though, of course, not only that, as no Shakespeare play is one-dimensional). But, to support this thesis of a drama about the law, a definition of the term “rule of law” is needed. Accordingly, Parts II through V set out hallmarks of this term, drawing on Ancient, Medieval, and Modern sources, but relying most significantly on the work of the renowned British Professor A.V. Dicey (1835-1922) and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy (1936). Part VI offers background about the play that help frame the thesis. Parts VII and VIII, respectively, apply those rule-of-law elements to the conduct (acts and omissions) of the leading, and several minor, characters of the play. Part IX proposes one character as candidate for “rule of law” heroine. Part X summarizes the rule-of-law themes in Measure for Measure that resonate for all time.

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29/04 12:30pm-2pm: T3 WK1 - Law School Lunchtime Research Seminar - Wednesday 29 April 2026