A Conference on Law and Opera, University of Turin, May 6, 2019

From the emailbox:

An announcement of a fascinating conference on Law and Opera, taking place on May 6th, at the University of Turin. The Department of Law is sponsoring the conference. Participants will include academics, singers, and directors.

See the Conference Program here,

A Special Issue on Law and Popular Culture From the Journal of the Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies @OxfordCSLS

Now published:

Special issue of the Journal of Oxford Center for Socio-Legal Studies: Law and Popular Culture (Issue 3, 2017).

This issue includes

Opening matters, by Pedro Fortes and Michael Asimow

Foreword: The Funhouse Mirror: Law and Popular Culture, by Lawrence M. Friedman

Jewish Lawyers on Television, by Michael Asimow

Outside But Within: The Normative Dimension of the Underworld in the Television Series "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul," by Manuel A. Gomez


The Portrayal of the Corporate Lawyer on TV: The US and British Models from L.A. Law To Trust and Suits, by Peter Robson

Lights, Camera, Affirmative Action: Does Hollywood Protect Minorities? by Pedro Rubim Borges Fortes

Photography's Transformation: Its Influence on Culture and Law, by Henry J. Steiner 

Law and Opera: Stimuli to a Sensible Perception of Law, by Gabriel Lacerda
 
More Human Than Human: How Some Science Fiction Presenta AI's Claims to the Right to Life and Self-Determination, by Christine A. Corcos

Law and Literature: A Dilettante's Dream? by William Twining 

Wire From the Field: Tackling Visual Knowledge: The Story of the Yale Visual Law Project, by Sandra Ristovska


Book Review: Law and Popular Culture: A Course Book by Michael Asimow and Shannon Mader

Falletti on Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) and the Sunset of Ancien Regime Legacy on Modern Legacy Culture

Elena Falletti, Carlo Catteneo University, has published Le Nozze di Figaro and the Sunset of Ancien Régime Legacy on Modern Legal Culture. Here is the abstract.

The purpose of this abstract is focused on the character of the Count of Almaviva as representative of the transition from the Ancien Régime to the Nouveau Régime. From the private law perspective, the Count exploits Figaro's promise of marriage to Marcellina in the event of the breach of a debt incurred some time before. Despite his conflict of interest because he is the master, the Count tries to mislead the judgement of his subordinate, unsuccessfully, due to the parent-child relationship between Marcellina and Figaro themselves. However, he does not give up and the final double exchange of role keeps him in a ridicolous situation to obtain forgiveness from his wife, the Countess, quite a proto-feminist in this opera. From the public law perspective, the crisis of the figure of the Count of Almaviva clearly represents the decline of aristocracy itself. None of his subjects are afraid of him. For instance, Cherubino escapes the mandatory enrollment in the Count's regiment by dressing up as a girl. This as not only of scenic value, but it could represent a crisis of social roles on the eve of the French Revolution. The Marriage of Figaro represents an indispensabile inspiration for historical and multidisciplinary reflections to analyze the paradigm shifts which occurred in the late XVII Century and the legacy they have left on today's legal culture.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Justice Ginsburg and the Daughter of the Regiment

Ruth Bader Ginsburg has her first speaking role in opera--as the Duchess of Krakenthorp in the Washington National Opera's production of Donizetti's The Daughter of the Regiment (Nov. 12 only). It seems that she'll be putting her own stamp on the role. Some lines from her decisions have been incorporated into her part. More here from Law.com.

There's not much of an explanation of the opera available there, though (not that operas generally make much sense). Here's a synopsis from a University of Michigan press release.  This particular Donizetti work is one of my favorites, so if you don't already know it, and you get a chance to see it in person or hear a recording, I suggest that you just enjoy it without trying to make it logical. It's a lot of fun.

From Court To the Opera

Among the projects incoming Houston Bar Association President Laura Gibson has slated for her term is an opera fundraiser for the Houston Volunteer Lawyers. The opera, based on the case of a free woman of color named Emeline, will be performed by Houston Grand Opera next year. It is currently being composed. Emeline, with the assistance of a founder of the Houston Bar Association named Peter Gray, defended her freedom against a man named Jesse Bolls, who attempted to claim ownership of her.  Mr. Gray later founded the law firm of what is now Baker, Botts, which is underwriting the composition of the opera based on the court case of Emeline v. Bolls.

Judge Mark Davidson retells the court case here for The Houston Lawyer; more here from the Houston Chronicle.

More about Ms. Gibson's plans for her HBA tenure here from the Texas Lawyer.

Copyright Marches On Its Stomach?

Michela Giorcelli, Stanford University Department of Economics, and Petra Moser, Department of Economics & National Bureau of Economic Research, have published Copyright and Creativity – Evidence from Italian Operas. Here is the abstract.

This paper exploits variation in the adoption of copyright laws within Italy – as a result of Napoleon’s military campaign – to examine the effects of copyrights on creativity. To measure variation in the quantity and quality of creative output, we have collected detailed data on 2,598 operas that premiered across eight states within Italy between 1770 and 1900. These data indicate that the adoption of copyrights led to a significant increase in the number of new operas premiered per state and year. Moreover, we find that the number of high-quality operas also increased – measured both by their contemporary popularity and by the longevity of operas. By comparison, evidence for a significant effect of copyright extensions is substantially more limited. Data on composers’ places of birth indicate that the adoption of copyrights triggered a shift in patterns of composers’ migration, and helped attract a large number of new composers to states that offered copyrights.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link. 

Controversy Over Metropolitan Opera Presentation of "The Death of Klinghoffer"

The Metropolitan Opera has moved ahead with a presentation of John Adams' opera The Death of Klinghoffer despite many protests that the work glorifies anti-Semitism. Here's an account from the New York Times. The New Yorker first covered such objections back in June. Here's a link to the Met website for the piece. Here's a review from the New Yorker.

Leon Klinghoffer was murdered by Palestinian terrorists during a hijacking in 1985 aboard the cruise ship the Achille Lauro. The terrorists forced two crew members to throw his body overboard in the waters off Syria. The Syrians eventually recovered his body and returned it to the United States.

A DVD of The Death of Klinghoffer is available from Decca. Singers include Sanford Sylvan, Christopher Maltman, and Yvonne Howard. The composer conducts the London Symphony Orchestra.

The story has also been filmed as Voyage of Terror: The Achille Lauro Affair, starring Burt Lancaster and Eva Marie Saint (1990).

On the events during and after the hijacking see

Michael K. Bohn, The Achille Lauro Hijacking: Lessons in the Politics and Prejudice of Terrorism (Potomac Books, 2004).

Antonio Cassese, Terrorism, Politics, and Law: The Achille Lauro Affairs (Princeton University Press, 1989).

Sing Out, Lucia!

Michela Giorcilli, Stanford University, Department of Economics, and Petra Moser, Stanford University Department of Economics, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), have published Copyright and Creativity: Evidence from Italian Opera. Here is the abstract.

This paper exploits variation in the adoption of copyright laws within Italy – as a result of Napoleon’s military campaign – to examine the effects of copyrights on creativity. To measure variation in the quantity and quality of creative output, we have collected detailed data on 2,598 operas that premiered across eight states within Italy between 1770 and 1900. These data indicate that the adoption of copyrights led to a significant increase in the number of new operas premiered per state and year. Moreover, we find that the number of high-quality operas also increased – measured both by their contemporary popularity and by the longevity of operas. By comparison, evidence for a significant effect of copyright extensions is substantially more limited. Data on composers’ places of birth indicate that the adoption of copyrights triggered a shift in patterns of composers’ migration, and helped attract a large number of new composers to states that offered copyrights.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link. 

The Sweet Sounds of Justice

From NPR: news that a composer/lawyer has put the philosophical iconic battle between Justices Scalia and Ginsburg to music. Derrick Wang, who holds a Masters in Music from Yale, and won a BMI Student Composer Award in 2010, finds the court opinions of the two Justices are, well, lyrical. Mr. Wang's opera, called Scalia/Ginsburg, casts Justice Ginsburg, appropriately enough, as a soprano, and Justice Scalia as a tenor. Somehow I was "ear" picturing him as a baritone. Or a bass. Maybe I've been listening to Don Carlo too much. More about Mr. Wang here.

Justice Ginsburg, Music, and Law

Justice Ginsburg on music and law, here from FindLaw. More here from the Wall Street Journal.

A High Profile Crime In Early Twentieth Century Nevada

Carolyn B. Ramsey, University of Colorado Law School, has published A Diva Defends Herself: Gender and Domestic Violence in an Early Twentieth-Century Headline Trial, at 55 St. Louis University Law Journal 1347 (2011). Here is the abstract.

This short article was presented as part of a symposium on headline criminal trials, organized by St. Louis University School of Law in honor of Lawrence Friedman. It describes and analyzes the self-defense acquittal of opera singer Mae Talbot in Nevada in 1910 on charges of murdering her abusive husband. Based on extensive research into archival trial records and newspaper reports, the article discusses how the press, the court, and trial lawyers on both sides depicted the killing and Mae’s possible defenses. Without discounting the sensationalism and entertainment value, to a scandal-hungry public, of stories about violent marriages, I contend that press coverage of Mae Talbot’s trial and others like it served an important social function. It helped to make intimate-partner violence a public issue and to define men’s brutality toward their wives as improper and unmanly. However, the newspapers did not always get the story right. Despite reporters’ speculation that Mae would plead insanity, her defense team centered its case on the alternative theories of justifiable homicide and accident. The jury instructions given in the case and filed with the Washoe County Court tell an even more interesting story of a judge who supplemented black-letter self-defense law with commentary on gender roles and the decline of men’s right to beat their wives. The newspapers, the defense lawyers, and ultimately the trial judge all seemed to see the case as one in which the deceased’s wrongful behavior — that is, his brutality toward the defendant — played a central role. Mae was acquitted because she killed a man widely perceived to have violated his duties toward her as a husband. Although she was a glamorous entertainer, her case resonated with the acquittal of many ordinary women accused of murdering their batterers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. 

Download the article from SSRN at the link. 

Buon Compleanno, Gioachino Rossini

Google celebrates with a Rossini "leap frog doodle!" Rossini makes so many allusions to law in his operas, beginning with his first work, La Cambiale di Matrimonio (The Marriage Contract, or The Bill of Marriage) and continuing through such works as The Barber of Seville (more marriage) to his last, Guillaume Tell (William Tell).  Italian censors found this opera particularly objectionable because of its subject matter, which dealt with rebellion against the government.


Short Bibliography

Peter Goodrich, Operatic Hermeneutics:Harmony Euphantasy and Law In Rossini's Semiramis, 20 Cardozo Law Review 1649 (1998-1999).

Daniel Tritter, Dramma Giocosa, at 20 Opera Quarterly 7 (Winter 2004).

Don Quixote and Law

From Jose Calvo González, University of Malaga, the announcement of a conference at the Centro de Ciências Jurídicas, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Florianópolis. Brazil), organized by Dr. Luis Carlos Cancellier de Olivo, and as part of the  de Pos-Graduação en Direito. The conference, "Seminar on Law and Literature," will take place from November 28 to December 2, 2011.  As part of the Conference, Professor Calvo  González will give a talk, "Don Quixote and Law." He will also deliver the closing lecture, "Puppetry and Law:  Sancho´s Justice and judgements in the puppet opera " VIDA DO GRANDE D. Quixote de la Mancha e do gordo Sancho Pança, by António José da Silva.(1705-1739)."

It's Always Something: Love and Litigation At the Opera House

Sarah Lynnda Swan, Columbia University Law School, has published A New Tortious Interference with Contractual Relations: Gender and Erotic Triangles in Lumley v. Gye, in volume 35 of the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender (2012). Here is the abstract.

The tort of interference with contractual relations has many puzzling features that conflict with fundamental principles of contract and tort law. This Article considers how gender influenced the structure of the tort and gave rise to many of these anomalies. Lumley v. Gye, the English case that first established interference with contractual relations, arose from a specifically gendered dispute: two men fighting over a woman. This type of male—male—female configuration creates an erotic triangle, a common archetype in Western culture. The causes of action that served as the legal precedents for interference with contractual relations – enticement, seduction, and criminal conversation – are previous instances where the law regulated gendered triangular conflicts. Enticement prohibited a rival male from taking another man’s servant, seduction prohibited a rival male from taking another man’s daughter, and criminal conversation prohibited a rival male from taking another man’s wife. 

In Lumley v. Gye, the court expanded these precedents and created a cause of action that allowed Lumley to bring an action against his male rival for essentially “taking” his contracted female employee. The gendered basis for the tort explains its most problematic aspects, including why it imposes obligations on non-contractual parties, ignores the role of the breaching promisor in causing the wrong, and treats her as the property of the original promisee. In order to remedy these problematic features, the tort should be restructured as one of mixed joint liability. Further, damages should be limited to those available in contract.

Download the article from SSRN at the link. 

Justices Ginsburg and Scalia On Opera

Courtesy of the Constitutional Law Blog, Justice Ginsburg and Justice Scalia tussle operatically in footnotes in Minnesota v. Carter, 525 U.S. 83 (1998). Since both Justices are fans of that wonderful art, we knew such erudite footnotes were coming.

More on law and opera here from Daniel F. Tritter (by way of the Law and the Humanities Institute and the Opera Quarterly), here from Arkansas Online (a court clerk by day and an opera singer by night, and probably by day also); diva Renee Fleming (or at least her voice) guests on Law & Order: SVU ("Bully"), aired March 30, 2011.