What do you think?
Rate this book
作为法律史学家的狄更斯
查尔斯·狄更斯，这位享有盛誉的文豪，原来与法律世界有着不解之缘。从《双城记》、《远大前程》、《雾都孤儿》，到《匹克威克外传》、《大卫·科波菲尔》、《荒凉山庄》，他的每部作品中都有法律与法律人的踪影，更不乏对法律机构与司法制度的生动描述。就连资深律师都惊叹于他对法律行当的熟稔，人们忍不住追问，难道狄更斯与海涅、席勒、歌德、泰戈尔一样，是“从法学院逃出来的文学家”吗？
在这《作为法律史学家的狄更斯》里，英国法律史学大家威廉·S.霍尔兹沃思为人们解开了上述疑问。他围绕狄更斯的一系列文学作品，条分缕析，悉心梳理，为读者复原了狄更斯时代的法律图景，阐释当年的司法背景与庭审模式。无论是虚假保人、拘捕令、财产扣押令这些琐碎细节，还是贵族诱奸案、药店学徒过失杀人案、赌博诽谤案这些逸闻趣事，霍尔兹沃思都能如数家珍，娓娓道来，使得阅读《作为法律史学家的狄更斯》成为一段在文学、法律与历史之间穿行的愉悦经历。
在这《作为法律史学家的狄更斯》里，英国法律史学大家威廉·S.霍尔兹沃思为人们解开了上述疑问。他围绕狄更斯的一系列文学作品，条分缕析，悉心梳理，为读者复原了狄更斯时代的法律图景，阐释当年的司法背景与庭审模式。无论是虚假保人、拘捕令、财产扣押令这些琐碎细节，还是贵族诱奸案、药店学徒过失杀人案、赌博诽谤案这些逸闻趣事，霍尔兹沃思都能如数家珍，娓娓道来，使得阅读《作为法律史学家的狄更斯》成为一段在文学、法律与历史之间穿行的愉悦经历。
- GenresNonfictionLaw
161 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1972
1 person is currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
William Searle Holdsworth
82 booksWilliam Searle Holdsworth, Historian of English law.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 10, 2019
Perfect for anybody wondering whether Dickens propensity to caricature makes his sorties into legal territory more entertainment and emotion than authoritative document. Holdsworth certainly carries authority and isn't without entertainment value.
Enjoyed this enormously and hope to profit from it.
Enjoyed this enormously and hope to profit from it.
July 17, 2021
An interesting and readable account of the law and lawyers in Charles Dickens’ novels, recommended for anyone interested in legal history, early Victorian social history or the background of Dickens’ works.
October 29, 2017
Thoroughly delightful book, highly recommended!
June 5, 2025
This is a 1928 book. Holdsworth was an English legal historian. He was best known for his 17! volume "History of English Law".
Williams L. Storrs (1795-1861) was the Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court for five years. In 1889 his two grandnieces endowed a lecture series at Yale Law School in his memory. The lecture series has been the source of a surprising number of very influential books and law journal articles. Benjamin Cardoza's "The Nature of the Judicial Process", Roscoe Pound's "An Introduction to the Philosophy of law", Carl Becker's The Heavenly City of 18th Century Philosophers" and Grant Gilmore's "The Ages of American Law" are all classic pieces which have been cited hundreds of times by later scholars.
This short book began as the 1927 Starr lecture. It is not a grand philosophy of anything or a startling breakthrough in analysis. It is a guy who is a brilliant legal historian and a dedicated Dickens fan combining his passions.
The first half of the book is really an anthology of the legal scenes and characters in Dicken's novels. Holdsworth notes that as a young man Dickens worked in a law office as a clerk and later as a Court Reporter. He argues that Dickens saw the legal system from the bottom up. He took in all of the nonsense and silliness and all of the odd people and used them liberally in his books.
"Bleak House" and "The Pickwick Papers" revolve around legal proceedings. Lawyers, courts, magistrates and other legal types are involved in most of his other novels. Holdsworth praises Dicken's for getting the legal technicalities mostly correct and for capturing the atmosphere and feel of the Courts.
The last half of the book discusses "Bleak House" and "The Pickwick Papers" in some detail. Both books painted damning pictures of the English courts. Holdsworth says that the criticism was mostly fair, although some of the outrages had been limited or abolished by the times Dickens published his novels.
One small item interested me particularly. In Pickwick there is a trial where Pickwick's landlady accuses Pickwick of breach of promise to marry. She produced several innocent notes he left her. Her lawyer's closing argument is hilariously funny. He convinces the jury that every innocent note is full of lecherous innuendo. It is one of my favorite scenes in Dickens.
Holdsworth shows that the scene is based on a closing argument in a real case by a real lawyer, the wonderfully named Mr. Sargeant Bumpas who is described as having a "fat body and a red face".
This is a learned man having fun but still doing serious scholarship. I enjoyed it.
Williams L. Storrs (1795-1861) was the Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court for five years. In 1889 his two grandnieces endowed a lecture series at Yale Law School in his memory. The lecture series has been the source of a surprising number of very influential books and law journal articles. Benjamin Cardoza's "The Nature of the Judicial Process", Roscoe Pound's "An Introduction to the Philosophy of law", Carl Becker's The Heavenly City of 18th Century Philosophers" and Grant Gilmore's "The Ages of American Law" are all classic pieces which have been cited hundreds of times by later scholars.
This short book began as the 1927 Starr lecture. It is not a grand philosophy of anything or a startling breakthrough in analysis. It is a guy who is a brilliant legal historian and a dedicated Dickens fan combining his passions.
The first half of the book is really an anthology of the legal scenes and characters in Dicken's novels. Holdsworth notes that as a young man Dickens worked in a law office as a clerk and later as a Court Reporter. He argues that Dickens saw the legal system from the bottom up. He took in all of the nonsense and silliness and all of the odd people and used them liberally in his books.
"Bleak House" and "The Pickwick Papers" revolve around legal proceedings. Lawyers, courts, magistrates and other legal types are involved in most of his other novels. Holdsworth praises Dicken's for getting the legal technicalities mostly correct and for capturing the atmosphere and feel of the Courts.
The last half of the book discusses "Bleak House" and "The Pickwick Papers" in some detail. Both books painted damning pictures of the English courts. Holdsworth says that the criticism was mostly fair, although some of the outrages had been limited or abolished by the times Dickens published his novels.
One small item interested me particularly. In Pickwick there is a trial where Pickwick's landlady accuses Pickwick of breach of promise to marry. She produced several innocent notes he left her. Her lawyer's closing argument is hilariously funny. He convinces the jury that every innocent note is full of lecherous innuendo. It is one of my favorite scenes in Dickens.
Holdsworth shows that the scene is based on a closing argument in a real case by a real lawyer, the wonderfully named Mr. Sargeant Bumpas who is described as having a "fat body and a red face".
This is a learned man having fun but still doing serious scholarship. I enjoyed it.
August 31, 2025
Fantastic and a thoughtful niche read by renowned English legal historian William S. Holdsworth. He examines how we can get a glimpse of how the courts of common law and Chancery (Equity) of England worked in the early to mid-19th Century. Using Dickens' The Pickwick Papers (Common Law) and Bleakhouse (Equity) as a legal lens, the reader walks away with legal insights in the period, and a foundation as to why any law student, or person with legal interest, would gain a new outlook of England's legal history by reading The Pickwick Papers and Bleakhouse.
As a lawyer, I enjoyed this book, and as a reader of Dickens' fiction I have a new appreciation for those two pieces of literary work.
As a lawyer, I enjoyed this book, and as a reader of Dickens' fiction I have a new appreciation for those two pieces of literary work.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews