Katz on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, his English Wills and Scottish Law

Leslie Katz has published Strange Case of Dr Jekyll, his English Wills and Scottish Law. Here is the abstract.

In Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, much of the action of the story is driven by the belief of Mr Utterson the lawyer that a will made by Jekyll leaving everything to Hyde was a valid will. That belief was caused in turn by Stevenson’s belief that, on a certain point, English and Scottish wills law were the same. Stevenson was mistaken; they weren’t. Although the will would have been valid under Scottish law, it wasn’t under English law. Much of Utterson’s conduct in the story is thus seen to have been unnecessary. The paper also includes background information about Mr Utterson, Dr Lanyon and Dr Jekyll, as well as a chronology of events in the story.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link.

Alton on Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Holmes: A Tale of Two Testaments

Stephen R. Alton, Texas A & M School of Law, has published Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Holmes: A Tale of Two Testaments as a Texas A& M University School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper. Here is the abstract.

This article takes the form of an epistolary exchange across the centuries, comparing and contrasting two noted wills in Victorian literature. The first of these testaments is the final will of Dr. Henry Jekyll, in Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde; this will bequeaths the doctor’s estate to his friend and attorney, Gabriel John Utterson. The second testament is the putative will of Jonas Oldacre, in Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of the Norwood Builder; this will bequeaths Oldacre’s estate to the young solicitor who drafted the will, John Hector McFarlane. Taken together, these two testaments raise the issues of the testator’s capacity and intent to make the will, undue influence and bequests to attorneys (notably to the drafting attorney), due execution of the will, and the effect of the beneficiary’s possible murder of the testator. A comparison of these two fictional Victorian-era wills remains relevant today because the legal issues that these two testaments raised in 19th century England are still very much present in 21st century America.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Nabaskues on Law, Crime, Morals and Sense of Justice in "Treasure Island" @IISJOnati @upvehu

Iker Nabaskues, University of the Basque Country, Faculty of Law, is publishing Law, Crime, Morals, and Sense of Justice in 'Treasure Island' in the Oñati Socio-Legal Series (forthcoming). Here are the abstracts in English and Spanish.

English Abstract: The aim of this article is to examine the legal, ethical and moral complications shown in Robert Louis Stevenson’s masterpiece, Treasure Island and the short story The Persons of the Tale. The methodology followed consisted on qualitative observation on different passages of the book. This analysis shows a shifting moral landscape where the characters of the plot make ethical choice out of the moral and social conventions of society. There are not legal institutions on the island. But we are reminded of the presence of the rule of law at all times. Stevenson uses this particular scenario to express a special and suggestive moral code where ambiguity, paradox and contradiction are the dominant pattern. There are very few works about Stevenson from the iusphilosophical approach, so the article makes a contribution on the field of Law and Literature.

Spanish Abstract: El objetivo de este artículo es analizar las complejidades jurídicas, éticas y morales presentes en La isla del tesoro, obra maestra de Robert Louis Stevenson, y en la narración Los personajes del relato. La metodología consiste en la observación cualitativa de varios pasajes del libro. Ese análisis muestra un paisaje moral cambiante donde los personajes hacen elecciones morales fuera de las convenciones morales y sociales. No hay instituciones jurídicas en la isla; pero en todo momento se nos hace recordar el imperio de la ley. Stevenson utiliza este particular escenario para expresar un código moral muy especial y sugerente, donde la ambigüedad, lo paradójico y lo contradictorio son las tónicas dominantes. Hay muy pocas obras sobre Stevenson desde un enfoque iusfilosófico, por lo cual el artículo hace una aportación al campo del Derecho y la Literatura.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Alton on the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll's Will

Stephen R. Alton, Texas A & M University School of Law, is publishing The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll's Will: A Tale of Testamentary Capacity in the Tulsa Law Review. Here is the abstract.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, published in 1886, is the well-known tale of a respected scientist (Dr. Henry Jekyll) who transforms himself into an evil-doer (Mr. Edward Hyde). While the work raises issues of tort and criminal liability, this article analyzes the legal issues presented by one particular and crucial plot device that Stevenson employs — the last will of Dr. Jekyll. It is this will that so obsesses Jekyll’s friend and solicitor, Gabriel John Utterson (through whose eyes the story unfolds), that Utterson is impelled to seek the truth behind his friend’s relationship to Hyde. At the end of Utterson’s search, the solicitor learns about Jekyll’s dangerous scientific experiment, which leads to the respected doctor’s moral downfall and his physical death. This article is presented as an imagined dialogue between the article’s author and Jekyll’s lawyer, Utterson, about the issues surrounding Jekyll’s mental capacity to make the will that left the doctor’s estate to Hyde. Jekyll’s will is an excellent case study for the application of various legal rules and doctrines regarding a testator’s mental capacity to make a valid will. These rules include those relating to the general soundness of the testator’s state of mind, the issues of undue influence and duress, and the doctrine of insane delusion. Stevenson’s novella is a wonderful vehicle for examining important legal problems that remain as relevant in America today as they were in England during Queen Victoria’s reign.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Ganz on Insanity and Responsibility in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Melissa J. Ganz, Marquette University Department of English, has published Carrying On Like a Madman: Insanity and Responsibility in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at 70 Nineteenth Century Literature 363 (December 2015). Here is the abstract.

This essay reads Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) alongside medico-legal debates about the nature and scope of insanity, arguing that the novel seeks to shore up the idea of individual responsibility in Victorian society. The cognitive test of insanity that emerged from the M’Naghten case of 1843 deemed a person legally irresponsible for his acts if, due to a defect of reason resulting from mental disease, he was unable to perceive the nature and quality of his acts or to know that they were wrong. Alienists such as James Cowles Prichard and Henry Maudsley, however, argued that this test failed to acknowledge the existence of affective and volitional disorders such as moral and impulsive insanity. In their treatises, they urged judges to adopt a more permissive standard — an ‘‘irresistible impulse’’ test — that deemed accused criminals ‘‘mad’’ if they could not control their actions, even if they knew what they were doing was wrong. While the novel appears to be sympathetic to the position articulated by Prichard and Maudsley, I argue, it ultimately shows the dangers of broadening the definition of insanity. To recognize the idea of irresistible impulse as the basis of an insanity defense, Stevenson suggests, is to confound the distinctions between freedom and compulsion, deviance and disease. Contesting the use of emotional insanity to acquit educated professionals like Jekyll, Stevenson holds the doctor guilty of murder.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Conscience, Self-Knowledge, and Justice In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Iker Nabaskues, University of the Basque County Faculty of Law, has published Law, Science, Facts and Morals in Robert Louis Stevenson's the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as Oñati Socio-Legal Series, Vol. 4, No. 6, 2014. Here is the abstract.

English Abstract: The impressive novel of the Scottish Master, despite his surprisingly simple narrative, shows an unquestionable moral and philosophical depth and it is considered as a canon of literature. The mystery of the plot shows how conscience and self-knowledge, both core components of human condition and modern rationality make clear the limits of legal and scientific rationality. The concept of Justice is shown from the distinctive perspective of Stevenson’s narrative; complex, paradoxical and ethically unclassifiable from the perspective of systematic thought.

Spanish Abstract A pesar de su sorprendente simplicidad narrativa, la impresionante novela del maestro escocés muestra una profundidad filosófica incuestionable y es considerada un canon de la literatura. El misterio argumental de la novela muestra cómo la consciencia y el auto-conocimiento, ambos componentes esenciales de la condición humana y la racionalidad moderna, muestran los límites de la racionalidad legal y científica. El concepto de Justicia se muestra desde la singular perspectiva de Stevenson; complejo, paradójico y éticamente inclasificable desde la perspectiva de cualquier pensamiento sistemático.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link.