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Why do writers turn to literature to work through legal questions? In this course, students will think critically about fictions literary and legal and about how literature helps us understand social, political, and legal events, problems, and contexts. We will look at literary depictions of criminality, of inheritance, property, commerce, marriage, contracts, questions about international law, jurisdiction, constitutional law, and rebellion. Texts might include Gay’s "A Beggar’s Opera," Fielding’s "Jonathan Wild," Dickens’ "Bleak House," Clare’s “The Mores,” “Remembrances,” “To a Fallen Elm,” "The Woman of Colour," Arnold’s “Commerce: A Poem,” "The History of Mary Prince," Pope’s “Eloisa to Abelard,” Austen’s "Sense and Sensibility," selections from Milton’s "Paradise Lost," Foote’s "The Nabob," Blackstone’s “The Lawyer’s Farewell to His Muse,” and Behn’s "The Widdow Ranter."