The Law and Comedy

Despite their inherent seriousness, the law and those who practice it, be it lawyers, judges, politicians, or bureaucrats, are amongst the most popular objects of comedy and humour. Sometimes even the mention of the law, or the mere use of legal vocabulary, can trigger laughter. This is deeply counterintuitive, but true across cultures and historical eras: while the law is there to prevent and remedy injustice, it often ends up becoming the butt of comedy. But laughter and comedy, too, are also infused with seriousness: as universal social phenomena, they are extremely complex objects of study. This book maps out the many intersections of the law and laughter, from classical Greece to the present day. Taking on well-known classical and modern works of literature and visual culture, from Aristophanes to Laurel and Hardy and from Nietzsche to Totò and Fernandel, laughter and comedy bring law back to the complexity of human soul and the unpredictability of life. Foreword to the English edition Preface Contents Chapter 1 Law, comedy, justice Chapter 2 How and why we laugh at law Chapter 3 Law vs. Comedy Chapter 4 In the Vortex of Evil Chapter 5 The “ridiculous claims” of law Chapter 6 Who am I and where do I live? Persona, law and laughter A final paragraph in the guise of a conclusion Appendixes by Giuseppe Rossi Appendix 1 The Good Lawyer and Bardell v. Pickwick Appendix 2 The Law and the Masochist’s Contract: Notes on Gilles Deleuze’s Coldness and Cruelty Bibliography Index