The Fabulous Law
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Throughout man's history, the Law and Justice have been the subject of many fables, stories, legends, poems, vignettes, apothegms, and other literary genres. Even the Scriptures, which are sui generis, contribute their own to our legal and literary traditions. These various sources have much to say to us about the law and human nature, and so The Fabulous Law intends to gather together some of this literary patrimony from different cultures, different religious traditions, and different times.
(Leonardo Da Vinci's Observations on Justice)
(Aesop on Justice and the Hare's Delight )
A Swallow Suffers Injustice at Court
(Aesop on Suffering Injustice in the Courts)
The Quick Return of the God Horkos
(Aesop on Retribution for Violating Oaths)
(Circumstantial Justice In Extremis? Lactantius and Bacon on Carneades's Plank)
(Drummond's Reflection on the Law in Inherit the Wind)
(Cyrus's Lesson on the Relativity of Justice from Xenophon's Cyropaedia)
(Is any Man Intrinsically Just? Reflections on Gyges's Ring from Plato's Republic)
The Trial of Judge Bridlegoose
(Is Justice Just a Roll of the Dice? Excerpts from Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel)
(Settle When Exhausted: An Excerpt from Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel)
(Hellenism and Law: Franz Kafka on Bucephalus the New Lawyer)
The Unjust Judge and the Importunate Widow
(The Law: Why Bother? A Parable on Seeking Justice from the Gospel of Luke)
The Traveler and the Well-Meaning Savages
(Frederic Bastiat's Parable on the End of Law and Human Liberty)
(Working with Vagueness: Two Rabbis Debate a Contract for the Sale of a Ship in the Talmud (Berachot 32))
(Do Other than the Law to Do Good (From the Talmud (Baba Metzia 83a))
Alexander and the King of a Faraway Land
(Conquerors Make Bad Judges: A Story from the Talmud (Tamid 32b))
(Saving on Flour and Careless With Truth: A Story from the Talmud (Gittin 35a))
(The Wolf and the Fox: Justice Like Gravity. A Story from the Talmud (Sanhedrin 39a))
Quarreling and Going to Court: Only a Fool Sues
(From Sebastian Brant's Ship of Fools)
The Eagle, the Vultures, the Bats, and the Owl: Who Rules?
(From Voltaire's Questions on the Encyclopaedia (s.v. "Government"))
(From Voltaire's Questions on the Encyclopaedia (s.v. "Laws"))
The Unrecognizable Development in the Law
(Moses Meets Rabbi Akiba: From the Babylonian Talmud (Menahot 29b))
(Justice for the Wiley Fox: From the Moral Fables of Robert Henryson)
(Argument According to Monty Python)
(John 8:1-11: The All-Knowing Christ Relies on the Record)
(Daniel 13: Daniel Invokes "The Rule")
(2 Paralipomenon [Chronicles] 19: Good Advice to Judges and Levites)
The Story of the Hare and the Partridge
(Choose Your Judge Carefully: From the Panchatantra)
(The Sage Solon's View on Laws: From Diogenes Laertius's Lives of Eminent Philosophers)
(The Sage Chilon's "Breaking" of the Law to Aid a Friend: From Diogenes Laertius's Lives of Eminent Philosophers)
(The Sage Bias's Last Argument: From Diogenes Laertius's Lives of Eminent Philosophers)
Better to Judge Between Two Enemies Than Two Friends
(The Sage Bias's Tells Why: From Diogenes Laertius's Lives of Eminent Philosophers)
The Advantage of the Philosopher During Anarchy
(Aristippus Obeys the Law Without Law: From Diogenes Laertius's Lives of Eminent Philosophers)
The Leading Question Elicits a Nonresponsive Response
(Alexinus Asks, Menedemus Answers: From Diogenes Laertius's Lives of Eminent Philosophers)
The Perfect Relationship Between Law, Morals, and Their Judgment
(Evast Asks His Son Blanquerna: From Blessed Raymond Lull's Blanquerna)
(Bahlool's Encounter with a Judge (Qadi): From the Tales of Bahlool'')
(Alberti Disparages the Life of a Lawyer)
(Sorites Paradoxes Among Merchants)
(Neither the Honest Nor Dishonest Traveller Can be Judged)
(The Unexpected Hanging Sentence)
The Paradoxical Law of the Red Cow
(Becoming Unclean to Become Clean)
(God as the Author of Due Process)
(The Fee Dispute Between Protagoras and Euathlus)
(Dyeing Your Hair Will Not Change Your Case)
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