Call For Papers: The Law of the Liturgies and the Liturgies of the Law: Finding Common Ground Between Law and Religion in Ritual Speech and Performative Action

From Judith Hahn, University of Bonn, and Emory University, Center for the Study of Law and Religion:

As scholars with an interest in the intersection of law and ritual (or law and magic), I would like to draw your attention to the attached Call for Papers. Pamela Slotte Russo (Helsinki), Oliver Wright (Oxford), and I are organizing the conference (and edited volume), The Law of the Liturgies and the Liturgies of the Law: Finding Common Ground Between Law and Religion in Ritual Speech and Performative Action. The conference will take place 14–16 September 2026, at Magdalen College, University of Oxford. It may be of interest to you or others in your network who work at the broader intersection of law and ritual. We encourage submissions from emerging researchers and would be grateful if you could also share this call with your postdocs who might be interested in contributing. The conference is funded, so costs for accommodation and travel are covered. The call is open until 28 February 2026. Any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.

          Judith Hahn 

Professor of Canon Law Seminar of Canon Law | University of Bonn Rabinstraße 8 | 53111 Bonn | Germany McDonald Distinguished Senior Fellow Center for the Study of Law and Religion | Emory University

Call For Abstracts: Law and Magic II

 Call For Abstracts:  Law and Magic II

 

Do you remember this book? Whether or not you do, the editor (Christine Corcos) is calling for abstracts for essays to fill a second volume of

 

 

 

 

                                                                 

Suggested topics might include, but are not limited to:

·       The law of fortune telling, tarot, phrenology, or other crafty sciences

·       The history of law and magic

·       Law and religion

·       Law as magic

·       Law and magic in popular culture

·       Law and magic in anthropology

·       Literature reviews of law and magic topics

·       Magic in the courtroom (using magic in advocacy)

 

 

 

For your convenience, here’s the table of contents from the first volume of Law and Magic (published 2010).

Loren A. Smith, Law and Magic: An Introduction Out of a Hat

Julie D. Cromer, It’s In the Cards: The Law of Tarot (and Other Fortunes Told)

Craig Freeman and Stephen A. Banning, Rogues, Vagabonds, and Lunatics: How the Right to Listen Cleared the Way For Fortunetellers

Pamela Edwards, Non-Mainstream Religions and the Law

Indra Spiecker genannt Doehmann, The Effects of Freedom of Information Laws on Corruption and the Quality of Decision-Making under U.S., E.U., and German Freedom of Information Laws

Christine A. Corcos,  “Ghostwriters”: Spiritualists, Copyright Infringement, and Rights of Publicity

F. Jay Dougherty, Now You Own It, Now You Don’t: Copyright and Related Rights in Magic Productions and Performances

Jacob Loshin, Secrets Revealed: Protecting Magicians’ Intellectual Property without Law

Florian Faust, Selling Secrets: Legal Problems of the Magic Market

Frederick A. Brodie, The Magic of Civil Procedure

Robert M. Jarvis, The Case of the Magician’s Assistant: McAfoos v. Canadian Pacific Steamships, Ltd.

Jessie Allen, Magical Realism

Wendy J. Turner, The Legal Regulation and Licensing of Alchemy in Late Medieval England

Eric J. Gouvin, On Death and Magic: Law, Necromancy, and the Great Beyond

Susan D. Rozelle, The Type of Possession Is Nine-Tenths of the Law: Criminal Responsibility for Acts Performed under the Influence of Hypnosis or Bewitchment

Garrett Epps,  “When You Awake You Will Feel No Remorse”: Stage Hypnotism and the Law

Peter W. Edge, Unsympathetic Magic: Charitable Status and Magical Practice in the United Kingdom  

Rebekah Heiser Hanley, Principled Conjuring Tails: A Twenty-First Century Lawyer’s View of the History of Animals in Magic

Lisa Johnson, Taking the Rabbit out of the Hat: Let the Animals Disappear from Magic Acts

Noel Marcovecchio, Hocus Ipsa Loquitur: The Affinity between Law and Magic

Kenneth M. Trombly, Conjuring and the Courtroom: All I Needed to Know about Trying Cases I Learned by Doing Magic Shows

We invite abstracts of up to 500 words on any topic linked to law and magic. 

 

Deadline for submission of abstracts: December 31, 2022

Send your submission as well as any questions about the project to: Christine Corcos, Richard C. Cadwallader and Judge Albert Tate Foundation Associate Professor of Law, LSU Law Center,  at ccorcos@lsu.edu

 

We’ll let you know of acceptances no later than January 15, 2023.

 Final essays may be up to 15,000 words in length, not including references, although we might consider some deviations from that length. The deadline for submission of final essays would be December 31, 2023.

 

Daniel Solove @DanielSolove As a Character In a Play About Privacy

Is this a first? A real life law prof is a character in a theatrical production. We've had Supreme Court Justices in opera (Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia in Derrick Wang's Scalia/Ginsburg). And we've see real law profs depicted in films and tv movies: Alan Dershowitz in Reversal of Fortune and various OJ docudramas (and Gerald Uelman of Santa Clara School of Law as well).

But now George Washington Law Faculty member Daniel Solove is a character in Privacy, curently in a run at the Public Theater through August 14th. The work, written by James Graham, and starring Daniel Radcliffe, is an update of Mr. Graham's 2014 play and featuring topical references, focusing on the issues of privacy in a world increasingly concerned about the line between public and personal personas. Other real life characters in the play include Sherry Turkle, well known social science and media tech prof at MIT.  The reviewer makes comparisons with the world of magic performance, which is interesting as well. He notes that a desire to honor the star's request for secrecy about the play's twists and turns keeps him from revealing much about its specifics, although let's face it: there's a difference between secrecy and privacy. But let's go with the desire to limit exposure, if only to keep the fun going. Shades of Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution and The Mousetrap.

More here from the GW Law website,  here from the New York Times.

A Website Devoted to Harry Potter and Law

If you're interested in Harry Potter and law (or law and literature) check out the website Harry Potter et le droit here. Site is in French. Clever, informative, interesting.

Comparing Law and Magic

Rostam J. Neuwirth, University of Macau, Faculty of Law, E32, has published Law and Magic: A(nother) Paradox? at 37 Thomas Jefferson Law Review 139 (2014). Here is the abstract.

In the past, paradoxes and similar rhetorical figures that are summarized by the term “essentially oxymoronic concepts”, have been frequently applied to describe mystical experiences or, more generally, “change” that represents the uncertain or the unknown. Thus, their usage has primarily been a privilege of the arts, literature or the occult sciences. Today, however, essentially oxymoronic concepts are increasingly permeating scientific, legal and other public discourses as much as advertisements or daily conversations. Concepts like “globalization paradox”, “co-opetition”, and “piracy paradox”, products labeled “ice tea” and “Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs)”, and films entitled “True Lies”, are just a few examples that testify to this wider trend. Their usage appears especially prevalent in attempts to scientifically describe and understand the often complex relations between two or more different phenomena or fields. In this regard, the relation between law and magic may be no exception, as it can also be framed by, or gives rise to, several paradoxes. For instance, in early history, and later, in the context of colonialism, laws have often outlawed magic as “witchcraft” or “charlatanry”, based on the belief that their character is irrational, as opposed to the rational character of the law. Paradoxically though, contemporary laws and legal practice still maintain a high degree of rites, rituals and rhetoric, similar to those that have been applied in magic. Similarly, as Jerome Frank has remarked, despite the law’s focus on certainty, it striking to see how often “magical phrases” are used in its language. The apparent contradictions in the nature and language of the law are therefore taken as an opportunity to cast some light on various issues that link law and magic in order to gain some insights about the nature, origin, and role of law generally.

Download the article from SSRN at the link. The article forms part of the conference papers from the Law and Magic symposium held at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, June 2014.

Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle: A New Series Heads To Television

From the Hollywood Reporter: 

Michael Weston, who appeared in the series House, and Stephen Mangan will star in the new series Houdini and Doyle for Fox, which is set for 2016. The series will dramatize the relationship between the iconic magician/escapotologist Harry Houdini (born Erich Weisz), to be played by Weston, who devoted the last years of his life to debunking Spiritualism and the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to be played by Mangan, who believed fervently in Spiritualist doctrine. The two eventually fell out over Doyle's unwillingness to believe Houdini's statements that he was not psychic and Houdini's repeated rejections of Doyle's proffered evidence of the paranormal.

Read more about Houdini and Doyle's relationship here, or in Massimo Polidoro, Final Seance: The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and Conan Doyle (Prometheus Books, 2001). 

Wondrous Things

A number of interesting law and magic related articles from the spring 2012 issue of Lapham's Quarterly.  Check out Lewis Lapham's Wonders Never Cease, on our interest in the wonderous and unusual,  Colin Dickey's Very Superstitious, on the persistence of the belief in sympathetic magic, and Spellbound and Gagged, on charms and spells.

Harry Potter à la mode

A new book on law and Harry Potter, this one in French:

Jean-Claude Milner, Harry Potter: A l’école des sciences morales et politiques (PUF, 2014) (the date of publication is listed as July 2014).

Here's the table of contents: Introduction

1 – Le Roman d’éducation

2 – Les leçons de la tante Marge

3 – La leçon d’Eton

4 – La leçon des humanistes

5 – La leçon de Voldemort

6 – La leçon des sorciers

7 – La leçon des moldus et le secret de Dumbledore

Conclusion

A tip of the sorting hat to José Calvo Gonzalez, University of Malaga

Reminder: Law and Magic Conference, June 6, 2014: Registration and Hotel Information

Reminder: The Conference on Law and Magic, co-sponsored by the Law and Humanities Institute and Thomas Jefferson School of Law, takes place on June 6, 2014 at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, 1155 Island Avenue, San Diego CA 92101. For additional information, please contact Stephanie Marquez at smarquez at tjsl.edu. CLE is being applied for.

Conference hotels are the Hotel Indigo and the Marriott San Diego Gaslamp Quarter, both a short walk from the law school. Click on the links for access to the hotels' reservations pages.

Registration is free for TJSL faculty, alumni, staff, and students, and $20 for all others. Registration includes lunch and the closing reception.

Here is the final schedule of presentations for June 6.

Revealing the Links Between Law and Magic:

A Conference Co-Sponsored by the Law and Humanities Institute 

and the Thomas Jefferson School of Law

June 6, 2014

8:00                 Breakfast and Check-in

8:30-10:00      Panel 1

                        First Amendment and Magic

                        Christine Corcos, LSU Law

                        Paul Finkelman, Albany Law

                        Rob McQueen, University of London

                        Julie Cromer-Young, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Chair and Discussant

10:15-11:45    Panel 2

                       

                        Law, the Humanities, and Magic

                        Anthony Farley, Albany Law School

                        Richard Weisberg, Cardozo Law School

                        Annette Houlihan, St. Thomas University, New Brunswick (Canada)

                        Christine Corcos, Chair and Discussant

12:00-1:15      Lunch

                        Entertainment by Curt Frye

1:30-3:30        Panel 3

Intellectual Property and Magic

                        Jay Dougherty, Loyola (Los Angeles) Law School

                        Jennifer Hagan, Hagan and Hagan, P.A.

                        Mark Tratos, Greenberg Traurig (via Skype)

                        Pierre Fleury-LeGros, University of LeHavre

                        Guilhem Julia, University of Paris XIII

                        Jay Dougherty, Chair and Discussant

                       

3:45-5:30        Panel 4

                        Magic in the Courtroom

                        Sydney Beckman, Duncan School of Law

                        Curtis Frye, Independent

                        Rostam Neuwirth, University of Macao Faculty of law

                        Julie Cromer Young, Chair and Discussant

5:30-6:30        Closing reception for panelists and attendees

Revealing the Links Between Law and Magic: LHI and Thomas Jefferson School of Law Conference on Law and Magic Update

Here's an update on the Law and Magic Conference, sponsored by the Law and Humanities Institute and the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, which will take place June 6, 2014.

Registration and check-in is scheduled to begin at 7:15 a.m. Panels will begin at 8:15. Here is the preliminary schedule of panels.

As of now, the Hotel Indigo at 509 9th Avenue, San Diego, is the conference hotel. Here's the link. If you have problems booking a room, please contact Jackie Vu at Hotel Indigo

p: 619-906-4814

e-Fax:  619-923-3516

jackie.nguyenvu@ihg.com

Schedule for June 6

PANELS

(subject to change)

7:15                        Registration and Check-In

8:15-9:45              Panel 1

                                Law,  History, and Magic

                                Christine Corcos

                                Paul Finkelman

                                Rob McQueen

                                Julie Cromer-Young, Chair and Discussant

10:00-12:00         Panel 2

                                Intellectual Property and Magic

                                Jay Dougherty

                                Jennifer Hagan

                                Mark Tratos

                                Pierre Fleury-LeGros

                                Guilhem Julia

                                Jay Dougherty, Chair and Discussant

12:15-1:45           Lunch Break

2:00-3:30              Panel 3

                                Magic on Trial

                                Sydney Beckman

                                Curtis Frye

                                Rostam Neuwirth

                                Julie Cromer Young, Chair and Discussant

                               

3:45-5:15              Panel 4

                                Law, Literature, Popular Culture, and Magic

                                Anthony Farley

                                Richard Weisberg

                                Annette Houlihan

                                Christine Corcos, Chair and Discussant

A June Conference Sponsored by the Law and Humanities Institute and the Thomas Jefferson School of Law

News of an Upcoming Conference

Revealing the Links Between Law and Magic

A Conference Sponsored by the Law and Humanities Law Institute and

Thomas Jefferson School of Law

June 6, 2014

Thomas Jefferson School of Law

1155 Island Avenue, San Diego CA 92101

Preliminary Information

This conference, co-sponsored by the Law and Humanities Institute (New York), and Thomas Jefferson School of Law (San Diego, CA), examines the many ways in which law and magic interact. Not only can the law influence the practice of magic, such as in the areas of freedom of speech and religion and intellectual property. Magic can also influence the law, such as in trial tactics and evidence. In addition, magic illuminates the crossroads of other law and humanities fields, such as the emerging area of law and neuroscience, rhetoric, and law and popular culture. Several of our panelists plan to include (magical!) demonstrations as part of their paper presentations.

Attendees will enjoy a full day on June 6 of panel presentations and discussions on IP, evidence, trial tactics, rhetoric, beginning at 8:30 and running until 5 p.m.

Some of our confirmed speakers and moderators include Sydney Beckman, Duncan College Of Law, Christine Corcos, Louisiana State University Law Center, F. Jay Dougherty, Loyola (Los Angeles), Law School, Paul Finkelman, Albany Law School, Pierre Fleury-Legros, Faculté de droit et des affaires internationales, Université du Havre, mentalist Curtis Frye, Jennifer Hagan, Hagan & Hagen, San Francisco, Annette Houlihan, St. Thomas University (Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada), Rob McQueen, Goldsmiths College, University Of London, Rostam Neuwirth, University Of Macao, Richard Weisberg, Cardozo Law School, and Julie Cromer Young, Thomas Jefferson School of Law. More information, including specific information about panels, CLE, and the conference hotel, will be available soon.

Date                June 6, 2014    7:30 a.m. (Registration and breakfast); 8:30 to 5 p.m.

                        Breakfast, snacks, lunch provided.

Place                Thomas Jefferson School of Law, 1155 Island Avenue, San Diego CA  92101

Call for Papers: Law and Humanities Institute Conference, Spring 2014

Revealing the Links Between Law and Magic

A Conference Sponsored by the Law and Humanities Law Institute and

Thomas Jefferson School of Law

June 5-6, 2014

Thomas Jefferson School of Law

1155 Island Avenue, San Diego CA 92101

Call For Papers

On June 5 and 6, 2014, the Law and Humanities Institute, New York, New York (USA) and Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, CA (USA) will sponsor a Conference on Law and Magic.

Law and magic interact in many ways. Not only can the law influence the practice of magic, such as in the areas of freedom of speech and religion and intellectual property; but also magic can influence the law, such as in trial tactics and evidence. In addition, magic illuminates the crossroads of other law and humanities fields, such as the emerging area of law and neuroscience, rhetoric, and law and popular culture. Papers discussing or developing these or any aspect of the relationship between law and magic are welcome, especially those that further an understanding of the theory, underpinnings, and/or philosophy of the field. 

Materials and presentations will be in English. The organizers of the conference are Christine Corcos, Louisiana State University Law Center (christine.corcos@law.lsu.edu) and Julie Cromer Young, Thomas Jefferson School of Law (jcromer@tjsl.edu).

We invite you to submit an abstract of a 20-minute paper that you would like to deliver at the conference. Abstracts should be between 250 and 500 words and sent to Christine Corcos at the email address above accompanied by the author’s brief biographical statement. Please put “Law and Magic Conference June 2014” in the email subject line and submit the abstract and biographical statement no later than November 1, 2013.  We will send notifications regarding acceptance of presentations by February 1, 2014.

If you would like us to consider your paper for publication,  please indicate that in the body of your email.  Conference papers accepted for publication will appear in the Spring 2015 issue of the Thomas Jefferson Law Review.

Please address questions to Christine Corcos at the email address above.

Law, Neuroscience, and Magic

A new book on that very interesting new topic, neuroscience and magic. Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde have published Sleights of Mind (Henry Holt, 2010)  about what happens in our brains when our eyes deceive eyes. Magicians and con men (and women) have known about this for centuries, but scientists and lawyers are just now beginning to take note. for more check out an article from The Scientist, here and the Law and Magic Blog here, here, here, and here.

A Collection on Law and Magic

New publication: Law and Magic: A Collection of Essays (Christine A. Corcos, ed., Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 2010). This collection of 24 essays explores the very rich ways in which the rule of law and the practice of magic enrich and inform each other. The authors bring both a U.S. and a comparative law perspective while examining areas such as law and religion, criminal law, intellectual property law, the law of evidence, and animal rights. Topics include alchemy in fifteenth-century England, a discussion of how a courtroom is like a magic show, stage hypnotism and the law, Scottish witchcraft trials in the eighteenth century, the question of whether stage magicians can look to intellectual property to protect their rights, tarot card readings and the First Amendment, and an analysis of whether a magician can be qualified as an expert witness under the Federal Rules of Evidence.