Academic literature on the topic 'Legal thriller'

This study carefully analyses J. D. Salinger’s 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye to investigate the historical and close ties between law and literature. Law and literature both have an impact on societal norms, moral values, and notions of justice. Reading literature promotes critical thinking and empathy and challenges social norms. It serves as a mirror for examining legal ideas and moral quandaries. Literature may explore a wealth of topics related to the nature of laws and how they take preceding decisions into account. This link between law and literature is validated by Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Because of its legal aspects, it becomes an engaging addition to the legal thriller genre. The book is praised for its literary quality, but many find it fascinating as a legal thriller story as well. Due to its in-depth analysis of the legal system and its philosophical take on morality, bias, and justice, it has enthralled readers. Harper Lee’s masterwork goes beyond simple narrative to provide insightful analysis of the intricacies of the contemporary legal system. This research looks at how jurisdictive arrangements are rendered, examining the drama in the courtroom and the struggles of the actors against social injustices. It also demonstrates how the book enthralls readers as a gripping murder mystery in addition to being a literary masterpiece. Atticus’s defence of Tom presents a challenge to the careful scrutiny of the judicial proceedings surrounding Tom Robinson’s trial and the broader societal background of racial tensions in 1930s Alabama. In the book, Atticus stands in contrast to the darkness of prejudice and perverse social ideals as a moral beacon.

The complex relationship between literature and law has been widely debated. Over the last 20 years, the judicial novel has been the subject of renewed consideration from critics. Numerous studies have pointed out how literary and judicial practices seem characterized by common methods of narrative organization and communication of experiences. Beyond the controversy on the classification of the judicial novel as literary genre, the representation of courtrooms has undeniably become one of the recurring tropes of the 20th-century novel. Within this multifaceted literary movement, the unique style of Italian judiciary literature warrants its articulation as a distinct genre. The working hypothesis of this article is that the political and cultural centrality acquired by the Italian Magistratura, as result of a longstanding confrontation with the political powers, is essential in studying the success of the Italian judiciary novel, together with the emergence of a vast number of jurist-writers. Analyzing specifically the work of the jurist-writer Gianrico Carofiglio, I will demonstrate how the Italian legal thriller transforms the representation of the trial, dealing with the literary tradition as well as with law’s own representation.

The Firm is a 1993 American legal thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, Hal Holbrook, and David Strathairn. The film is based on the 1991 novel The Firm by author John Grisham. A young lawyer joins a small but prestigious law firm only to find out that most of their clients are on the wrong side of the law. The company is helping to launder mob money, get clients off charges and even murder partners who threaten to blow their cover, but when the FBI come calling to gather evidence on the lawyer's colleagues, he is caught between a rock and a hard place, juggling his life and his liberty.

The Rudolf Kastner trial was one of the three great scandals that rocked Israeli party politics in the 1950s (the others were the negotiations with Germany for Holocaust reparations and the so-called “Lavon affair”). Although Leora Bilsky describes it as an “almost forgotten trial,” it has not been forgotten by subsequent writers: it makes an important cameo appearance in Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem; it features prominently in Tom Segev's The Seventh Million (1991); Yehuda Bauer's Jews for Sale? (1994) takes pains to refute the charges against Kastner; and it inspired two novels—Amos Elon's Timetable (1980) and Neil Gordon's cerebral thriller The Sacrifice of Isaac (1995). But the legal opinions have never until now attracted the thought or analysis they warrant, and Bilsky deserves gratitude for remedying this omission. With admirable insight and ingenuity, Bilsky focuses on the construction of the legal opinions as a form of literature. Her reading of Judge Halevi's and Justice Agranat's opinions centers on the way in which law is driven by metaphor—in Halevi's case, the metaphor of contract; in Agranat's, the metaphor of administrative decision making. Her article is a major contribution to our understanding of the Kastner case and to the way that, in a situation of intense moral ambiguity, legal analysis can be predetermined by a choice of metaphors.

Following the Treaty of Trianon, the situation of the Catholic Church operating on the territory of the Kingdom of Romania was regularized within a concordat agreement concluded in 1927 between the Romanian Government and the Holy See as interested parties. Since due to the compromises Section 9 of the Concordat, addressing the legal situation of the church, became meaningful ─ a development that parties opposing the Concordat exploited –, the contracting parties agreed on a detailed explanation under an accord drafted in the early 1930s. Our study presents the thriller-like antecedents and aftermath of the Accord, signed on 30 May 1932 between the contracting parties, relating to the interpretation of Section 9 of the Concordat concluded between the Holy See and the Romanian Government on 10 May 1927. The successive, short-lived Romanian governments could not give effect to the agreement due to the nationalist propaganda heavily present in the media. Abuses arising from the various interpretations eventually led to the appearance of the Accord in the form a decree-law on 2 May 1940. Keywords: concordat, accord, Holy See, Romanian Government, Roman Catholic Status of Transylvania

A Separation, a family drama, reflects the struggle and negotiations within people's life. The film revolves around a middle-class Tehran couple's disagreement over where and how to live and move further leads to the growing conflict. Nader and Simin's partial split becomes only one of the reasons that push the whole family into a problem. The story quietly and cleverly combines elements of family melodrama and legal thriller. With a textual analysis, this paper addresses the performance strategies of characters, besides, the movie captures the frustrations of city life; it reflects not only the modern Iranian life but every everyday life of the globe. So, this paper studies the film from Ervin Goffman's dramaturgical approach as it finely embraces human-restored behavior that includes conflict, relationships, secrets, and other elements in everyday life. It also emphasizes the way people present themselves in front and backstage of their everyday life. However, it displays peoples’ performance in their daily relationships and how they react toward it. Furthermore, this paper depicts and reflects that every family adheres to moral dilemmas and relationship negotiations, yet it is complex and multi-faceted.

L'entrée de Gianrico Carofiglio sur la scène littéraire, en 2002, a permis l'affirmation d'un genre qui, jusque-là, semblait l'apanage de la production américaine. Le roman de procédure italien, écrit par des juristes et offrant une représentation réaliste de l'univers judiciaire, est en plein essor en Italie et rencontre un lectorat important. Cette thèse tente d'en dégager les spécificités et d'en expliquer le succès au travers de l'analyse des cinq romans centrés sur le personnage de ''l'avvocato Guerrieri"<br>The entry of Gianrico Carofiglio on the literary scene in 2002 allowed the affirmation of a genre that until then seemed the preserve of the American production. The ltalian legal thriller, written by jurists and offering a realistic representation of the judiciary, is growing in Italy and meets an important readershp. This thesis attempts to identify its specificities and explain its success through the analysis of the five novels centered on the character of the avvocato Guerrieri

Con la presente analisi si intende focalizzare l’attenzione critica sullo sviluppo dell’interrelazione tra i concetti di equità e giustizia in un preciso genere letterario contemporaneo, il legal thriller, esaminando sia il contesto culturale che quello giuridico. Tale approccio interdisciplinare implica perciò un attento esame di differenti ambiti di ricerca per permettere un fertile confronto tra sviluppi paralleli e intersezioni di dottrine ed idee fondanti. La prima parte della presente analisi offre un excursus dettagliato del movimento “diritto e letteratura”, che codificò e conferì valore paradigmatico all’interesse delle discipline umanistiche per il diritto e le sue rappresentazioni culturali. Tale movimento percorse una parabola evolutiva che comportò un graduale ampliamento della propria prospettiva da “diritto e letteratura” a “diritto e cultura”: da un iniziale interesse alle pure corrispondenze letterarie e retoriche tra i due ambiti si focalizzò, infatti, in seguito sull’aspetto “umanistico” e sugli effetti del diritto sulla società. Naturale conseguenza di questo sviluppo è stata la proliferazione delle rappresentazioni del diritto nella cultura popolare in un’ottica di postmodernismo autoconsapevole. E’ importante focalizzare l’attenzione critica anche sulla “percezione della giustizia”, che induce l’uomo comune da un lato a rivolgersi al diritto e dall’altro a rifiutare lo stesso nel momento in cui crede di aver subito un torto. La ragione dell’inadeguatezza del diritto e della generale insoddisfazione e disillusione nei confronti dell’autorità e delle istituzioni legali può essere ricondotta ad un profondo divario ripetutamente posto in luce nella presente analisi: quello tra legalità e moralità. In tale ambito l’equità diviene lo strumento correttivo supplementare per sancire una soluzione “più giusta” nel caso in cui le regole sovra menzionate siano troppo rigide o limitate per assicurarla. Tali considerazioni iniziali sono seguite da un esame storico volto a porre in luce come il legal thriller, sin dalle sue origini, abbia sperimentato alterne fortune determinate dalla percezione comune, sentita nel preciso momento temporale, della professione giuridica. Gli autori inglesi scelti (P. D. James, Tim Parks, Frances Fyfield e Sarah Caudwell) differiscono molto l’uno dall’altro; permettendo cosí di osservare come la giustizia e l’equità possano essere rappresentate differentemente e di far risaltare le diverse soluzioni adottate dai protagonisti per raggiungere i propri risultati. I romanzi sono stati tutti scritti in un periodo che spazia dagli anni ottanta fino ai giorni nostri: questo periodo è, infatti, caratterizzato da un “postmodernismo affermativo”, che implica una consapevolezza da parte dell’uomo comune dell’imperfezione del diritto e della incapacità dello stesso di assicurare la giustizia, ma allo stesso tempo la volontà di riconoscere che un sistema fallace è sempre meglio di nessun sistema. Inoltre, il legal thriller sostiene che la situazione potrebbe essere migliorata grazie all’intervento di professionisti disposti a lottare in prima persona per assicurare giustizia a coloro che ne hanno necessità. La giustizia perfetta non appartiene a questo mondo; le dottrine legali e di equità possono, tuttavia, avvicinarsi molto al raggiungimento di tale perfezione ideale. Queste idee sono elementi costitutive del legal thriller contemporaneo, caratterizzato, in questo periodo storico, da un intenso e autorevole revival. Gli eroi e le eroine del legal thriller percepiscono la difficoltà che si origina dalla coesistenza dei concetti di “diritto” ed “equità”: coloro che riescono a conciliarli, contravvenendo al diritto solo quando questo impedisce loro di fare “la giusta cosa”, sono dipinti come professionisti equi ed imparziali che garantirebbero una maggior sicurezza del sistema legale rispetto a quella derivante dall’esercizio dei loro più materialisti colleghi. Nella analisi ampio spazio viene anche donato alla descrizione dettagliata delle caratteristiche peculiari di avvocati, di pubblici ministeri, di avvocati difensori, delle donne avvocato e dei giudici. Le dottrine conformi alle regole di equità, esplicate nella presente analisi, sono fondamentalmente analizzate da un punto di vista umanistico e letterario; viene, tuttavia, preso in considerazione anche il contesto storico e legale al fine di non perdere traccia delle specificità tecniche dell’attuale valore morale di tali dottrine. In tal modo, si accresce la presenza dell’equità nella ricerca della giustizia – ricondotta, nel caso specifico, agli scenari ipotetici offerti dalla letteratura. La coscienza è la prima dottrina legale a dover essere presa in considerazione: l’equità, infatti, era originalmente percepita come la “coscienza del Re”: in seguito, tuttavia, si trasformò da elemento collettivo in percezione individuale e tale cambiamento comportò un graduale allontanamento della stessa dalle leggi umane in favore di un più potente codice morale. Per questa ragione l’equità è sempre stata materia privilegiata di molti romanzi, che hanno scandagliato tali decisioni “secondo equità”. La discrezione giuridica rappresenta il margine di flessibilità offerto inizialmente dall’equità quale mezzo correttivo atto ad adeguare una sentenza al caso specifico; affondava anch’essa le proprie radici nella moralità e, più precisamente, nell’idea che essa potesse compensare una mancanza di chiarezza nell’applicazione di una legge attraverso i giudici. Di conseguenza, il ragionevole dubbio e la funzione dello stesso di assicurare che l’imputato sia giudicato colpevole solo nel caso in cui il giudice e la giuria possano proclamare in coscienza la sua colpevolezza richiamano alla mente i concetti di coscienza e discrezione, come anche una doverosa e attenta considerazione delle circostanze particolari caratteristiche di ogni processo. La giustizia poetica, infine, è uno strumento letterario attraverso il quale viene perseguita una “giustizia correttiva” all’interno di un romanzo quando il diritto, ostacolato dal suo obbligo di intervenire solo nei casi di trasgressione legale, non può punire il colpevole con mezzi propri, ma lo fa presentando un “equo intreccio” di soluzioni finali e di giudizi sotto forma di punizioni che rimandano all’atto illecito originario. La lettura critica dei romanzi attraverso queste dottrine morali e legali, perciò, avvalora la tesi secondo la quale l’equità è un concetto fondante del genere legal thriller e rappresenta la componente più duttile e soggettiva della ricerca di giustizia da parte dell’umanità. Le osservazioni conclusive del presente studio reiterano l’assoluta necessità di ricercare la giustizia attraverso mezzi sia legali che equi e l’esigenza che tale ricerca sia condotta da persone interessate al raggiungimento della giustizia. Questo intento può essere conseguito attraverso “l’etica della critica” in quanto strumento epistemologico attraverso il quale si possono dibattere idee e proposte sulla giustizia e sul suo sostenimento, non compromettendo, al contempo, idee consolidate di comprovata utilità. In un mondo cosmopolita quale quello attuale, infatti, la fusione e l’intreccio di usanze, di culture e di legislazioni rende sempre più incalzante la necessità di riconciliare multiple percezioni di giustizia e ingiustizia e di promuovere una presa di coscienza dell’esistenza di nuove categorie, assicurando, al tempo stesso, un sistema legale stabile e affidabile in grado di mantenere l’ordine. Questa ricerca di equilibrio è presente nel legal thriller, ed è riconducibile al tentativo del genere stesso di conciliare la fiducia e l’affidamento riposto dal diritto negli esiti confortanti e inoppugnabili dei propri testi con l’abilità della letteratura di discutere e confutare concezioni obsolete attraverso narrazioni di ordine, di caos e di reintegrazione dell’ordine tramite soluzioni alternative e schemi di pensiero innovativi.<br>The present research intends to analyse the interrelation between the concepts of justice and equity within a precise contemporary literary genre, i.e., the legal thriller by looking into the cultural and juridical contexts that have contributed to the development and representation of such concepts. Such an interdisciplinary task will therefore imply the perusal of different fields of research in order to compare the parallel development and intersections of fundamental doctrines and ideas. It will begin by presenting a detailed excursus into the law and literature movement, from where the humanities’ interest in the law and its cultural representations derived in their first official and authoritative form. The gradual progression of the law and literature movement’s interest from the purely literary and rhetoric resemblances of the two fields towards a consideration of the “humane” aspect and the effects of the law on society broadened the perspective from “law and literature” to “law and culture.” As a result, there has been an increasing proliferation of representations of the law in popular culture in the light of a more self-conscious form of postmodernism. This context provides the ideal background for humanistic considerations on justice and the tools that have been employed in time to uphold it (and more specifically here, law and equity). In particular, it will be important to focus on the “perception of justice” which motivates people’s recourse to the law and their reactions when they feel they have been wronged. The reason for law’s insufficiency and for the public’s general dissatisfaction with legal authorities and institutions may be explained by a deeper divergence that recurs throughout the study: that between legality and morality. Equity fits into this equation as a corrective and supplementary means to ordain a more justly felt solution when the above mentioned rules were too strict or limited to do so. It is therefore analysed at this point in its juridical, ethical, and moral implications and tied with both law, as a starting point that it could adjust according to the situation, and justice, which is its ultimate goal. Other attributes characterizing justice are flexibility, mercy and individuality and its original role was to judge appeal cases that were not satisfactorily regulated according to the law. The division between law and equity is still perceived today, as is that between legality and morality, legal justice and moral justice, and law and revenge. Both law and equity are considered crucial for society’s well-being, especially in an international and cosmopolitan context such as the one we live in today. As it is illustrated in the historical perusal following this consideration, the legal thriller’s fortune has alternated since its origins according to the public’s relation with the legal profession. The selected English authors (P.D. James, Tim Parks, Frances Fyfield, and Sarah Caudwell) are very different from one another in order to observe how differently justice and equity can be portrayed and the diverse solutions that different protagonists adopt to reach their results. Their works were all written from the 1980’s to the present day: this period is in fact characterized by an attitude of “affirmative postmodernism,” in which people were aware of the law’s imperfections and inability to distribute justice but still willing to acknowledge that this is better than no system at all. Furthermore, the legal thriller sustains that the situation could be improved thanks to the intervention of professionals who are “willing to go the extra mile” to attain justice for those in need. Perfect justice is not of this world, but legal and equitable doctrines can go a far way to reaching the “next best” result. These ideas are all part of the contemporary legal thriller, which has been living its latest and strongest revival ever since. The heroes and heroines in the legal thriller feel the difficulty rising from the coexistence of the two: those who manage in some way to reconcile the two by disobeying the law only when it prevents them from doing the ‘right thing’ are portrayed as equitable professionals in whose hands the legal system would no doubt be safer than in those of their more materialistic colleagues. Particular features of lawyers, prosecutors, defending lawyers, practising women, and judges will also be listed and described in detail. The equitable doctrines that will be explained are analysed from a humanistic and literary point of view, although the historical and legal context is also considered in order to not lose track of their technicality and of their present moral charge. In this manner, the presence of equity in the pursuit of justice – in this case in hypothetical scenarios such as those provided by literature – is broadened. Conscience is the first legal doctrine to be taken into consideration: equity in fact was originally known as the “King’s conscience” but then became more individualized, leading to its distancing from human laws, in favour of a more powerful moral code. For this reason it has often been the subject of novels, where such ‘equitable’ decisions could be reflected upon. Judicial discretion represents the margin of flexibility that equity initially provided as a corrective means in order to adjust a sentence to the case. It too was rooted in morality, and more precisely in the idea that judges spoke in the Lord’s place and in modern times that it could compensate lack of clarity when applying a law. Following that, reasonable doubt and its goal to ensure that the defendant is sentenced only if the judge and jury can conscientiously proclaim him or her guilty of the charge recalls conscience and discretion, as well as the careful consideration of individual circumstances in each trial. Finally, poetic justice is a literary instrument with which a “corrective justice” is pursued in novels when the law, hindered by its obligation to intervene only in cases of legal transgressions cannot punish the culprit through its own means. It does so by presenting an “equitable tailoring” of final solutions and judgments, in the guise of punishments that recall the original injury. The analysis of the novels through these legal and moral doctrines therefore sustains the argument that equity is a founding concept of the legal thriller genre and represents the more flexible and personal part of humanity’s search for justice. It also demonstrates the complexity of the relationship between equity and law and of its negotiations in literature, here considered as a neutral ground on which hypothetical cases and stories can be experimented. What is reiterated in the concluding remarks of the study is the dire necessity for justice to be pursued both through legal and equitable means and in particular by people who have justice’s interests at heart. This can be accomplished through “ethics of criticism,” an epistemological means through which ideas and proposals about justice and its upholding can be debated while not necessarily compromising the consolidated ideas that have been proven useful. In a cosmopolitan world like the present one in fact, the mingling of customs, cultures, and legislations is currently prompting the need to reconcile multiple perceptions of justice and injustice and take many new categories’ voices into account while providing a stable and reliable legal system capable of maintaining order. This search for equilibrium is strongly present in the legal thriller genre, for it seeks to reconcile the law’s reliance on comforting and conclusive texts and results with literature’s ability to question and prod obsolete conceptions and by narrating of order, chaos, and the restoration of order through alternative solutions and innovative thought patterns.