Full Circle

by Henry Cecil

One day a distinguished law professor is involved in an accident and suffers a slight knock on the head. He continues to behave normally in most respects, but instead of delivering lectures, he delights his students by telling them crazy and convoluted stories to illustrate his points of law. His fame spreads and his lectures become crowded. Fearing for his sanity, the university authorities take action and he is locked away. Then something happens to change things once again. These stories, written with Henry Cecil's true verve and wit, will delight the reader.

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Henry Cecil Leon (19 September 1902 – 23 May 1976), who wrote under the pen-names Henry Cecil and Clifford Maxwell, was a judge and a writer of fiction about the British legal system. He was born near London in 1902 and was called to the Bar in 1923. Later in 1949 he was appointed a County Court Judge, a position he held until 1967. He used these experiences as inspiration for his work. His books are works of great comic genius with unpredictable twists of plot, but are not intended to be realistic or strong on characterization. They typically feature educated and genteel fraudsters and blackmailers who lay ludicrously ingenious plots exploiting loopholes in the legal system. There are several recurring characters, such as the drunken solicitor Mr Tewkesbury and the convoluted and exasperating witness Colonel Brain. He writes well about the judicial process, usually through the eyes of a young barrister but sometimes from the viewpoint of the judge; Daughters in Law contains a memorable snub from a County Court judge to a barrister who is trying to patronise him.

His 1955 novel Brothers in Law was made into a film in 1957 and, later, a television and radio series starring Richard Briers. While at Paramount Pictures, Alfred Hitchcock worked on adapting No Bail for the Judge for the screen several times between 1954 and 1960, and hoped to co-star Audrey Hepburn, Laurence Harvey, and John Williams, but the film was never produced.

Reviews

[Hugo. · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Michael Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whimsy has an undeserved bad reputation. Mr. AI defines it as ""something that is delightfully unusual, often with a touch of humor, and not necessarily bound by logic or practicality". What's not to like?

This 1948 English novel is whimsical. Professor Melton had been a eminent professor of Roman law and jurisprudence at Harvard for many years. He was known for his dry boring lectures. He got the opportunity to return home to England and teach at his alma mater. He was appointed to the Chair of Jurisprudence at Cambridge.

On the morning of his first lecture he was struck by a subway train and banged his head. He was helped up and seemed fine. He walked into the lecture room and started to tell a story about a modern murder trial with a clever scheme to get away with murder and an excellent surprise ending. Then he walked out of the classroom. The next week he did the same thing, different story.

It became apparent that although he appeared perfectly normal, he could not stop telling clever legal related short stories every time he tried to give a lecture. The College tries to cure him. He is hospitalized. He then hides under an assumed name and the story of the Professor is finally resolved

Of course the fun of the whole thing is that it gives Cecil the chance to tell us 18 very clever legal themed short stories. We get one with a judge and a prostitute. One with an ingenuous plan for legal burglary, We get several false confessions and a very enjoyable foolproof blackmail scheme. Almost all of the stories have clever O'Henry type twists in the last sentence.

Cecil was a county clerk judge. He wrote over 25 novels on legal themes. This was his first book. He was fascinated by the tricks and maneuvers that could be pulled in court.

The frame story about the Professor is great fun. He is calm and philosophical about the madness around him. The short stores are well told and smart. The whole book is whimsical in the best possible way.

[Abhishek Dafria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Henry Cecil novel always takes you through a hilarious, fun ride and Full Circle is no different. This book begins with a Professor of Law falling down at a railway station and hurting his head which brings out a strange change in him - he starts narrating stories that he never knew of. Full Circle is thus a compilation of short stories, independent of each other, all wrapped around by a larger story involving the Professor. While you would expect the book to contain many anecdotes from the world of law, since Henry Cecil himself worked in that field, that is surprisingly not so. There are tales that involve the police and lawyers and judges, and there are a few that have nothing to do with them. Each tale though has a twist right at the end, some predictable, most not. The best ones will make you slip out of your chair for they are nothing short of a M. Night Shyamalan movie (in his better days) in terms of suspense. Henry Cecil writes his stories with a simplicity and yet eloquence that could be a lesson taught to new writers. There is a smooth flow to his style of narration which make these short stories page-turners. There are some stories though where I would have liked the aspect of the law to be described more in detail since they formed the crux of the narrative. Nonetheless, the book is an enjoyable read on the whole!

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

The Confession
Tell Tale
*Slander
On Principle
The Name
The Case Of Mr Tinker
Not On The Menu
The Dream
The Liberty Of The Subject
The Catch. Part I
The Catch. Part II
Advertisement
Music For All
*In Broad Daylight
On Appeal
The Presumption
Portrait In Silk
Chapter Eighteen
***
The Lesson

[Vinay Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a marvelous book. enjoyable till the last page. laughable. Must read.

[Satyabrata Mishra · Rating 5 out of 5]

The misadventures of the tongue...

Henry Cecil weaves amazing threads of satire, comic relief and unexpected endings; all dealing with a Professor of Law whose tongue refuses to obey him.