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Utopia And The Law And Literature Movement, Michael P. Malloy

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

The year 2016 marks the quincentennial of the publication of Thomas More’s novel Utopia. In addition to being an important literary milestone and cultural artifact, Utopiarepresentsa significant marker in the history of political and legal philosophy. I would argue that it also provides an important contribution to the law and literature movement that has flourished in recent decades. It is that contribution that I wish to explore.

This paper begins with a brief introduction to the law and literature movement, in which I identify some of the objectives of the movement and the relationship of More’s novel to those objectives. …