Law and Magic Blog

Psych-Ing Out Harry Potter

For Harry Potter fans, a new book (at least new to me) called The Psychology of Harry Potter: An Unauthorized Examination of the Boy Who Lived, edited by Neil Mulholland, and published by Benbella Books. I admit that I don't quite understand the subtitle ("An Unauthorized Examination of the Boy Who Lived". Lived where? Lived what? How? but anyway. Among the essays included are Jessica Murakami's "Mental Illness in the World of Wizardry," and Patricia Rippetoe's "Defense Against the Real Dark Arts."

A couple of other Harry Potter psychology and philosophy titles, if you like this subject:

• David Baggett, Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts (Open Court, 2004).
• William Irwin, The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for Muggles (Wiley, 2010).

The Law Under Lord Voldemort

An analysis of law (or the lack of it) in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I" written by Nick Moline here. Mr. Moline takes up wizarding law in the film, rather than the book, and begins,

In Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter finds himself Undesirable No. 1, a fugitive of the law, as the government of the Wizarding World has been taken over by the evil Lord Voldemort. This is not the first time that Harry has found himself at odds with Wizarding Law. In honor of the movie, I am going to look at the laws and legal system of Harry’s world. So, let’s hop aboard the Hogwarts Express to take our introductory course in Wizarding Law at Hogwarts.

Harry Potter Fans, Ancient Practitioners Blamed For Dropping Owl Populations

The Hollywood Reporter notes that India's owl population is at risk, apparently due both to the popularity of "Harry Potter" and tantric practice. Those who want to emulate J. R. Rowling's famous character want their own live pet bird, and those who want owl parts, want, well, dead ones. Animal rights groups are upset. More here from the BBC.

Magic and Money In "Harry Potter"

Eric J. Gouvin, Western New England Law School, has published The Magic of Money and Banking, in Harry Potter and the Law (Jeffrey E. Thomas and Franklin D. Snyder eds.; Carolina Academic Press, 2010). Here is the abstract.

 

Creating money out of thin air is one of the few truly magical things Muggles are capable of, which makes it odd that J.K. Rowling did not include a more thoughtful discussion of banking in her Harry Potter books. Indeed, the banking system in the wizarding world seems quite rudimentary -- more like the safe deposit business than true banking. Nevertheless, Muggle bankers and magical bankers face similar problems relating to security and money laundering and they have developed regulatory strategies to deal with those problems.

The full text is not available from SSRN. Support the economy, magicians, and Muggles; buy the book!

Harry Potter and the Magic Disappearing Tort(e)

Scott Hershovitz, University of Michigan Law School, has published Harry Potter and the Trouble with Tort Theory, forthcoming in the Stanford Law Review. Here is the abstract.

 

Economists argue that tort law promotes an efficient allocation of resources to safety, while philosophers contend that it dispenses corrective justice. Despite the divide, the leading tort theories share something in common: They are grounded in an unduly narrow view of tort. Both economists and philosophers confuse the institution of tort law with the rules that are distinctive of it. They offer theories of tort’s substantive rules, but for the most part ignore the procedures by which those rules are implemented. As a consequence, both miss and misconstrue much about tort law.

The problem is particularly acute for economists. They analyze the impact of tort’s substantive rules on accident and accident avoidance costs. Yet, the institution of tort law generates many other costs and benefits for society, and those costs and benefits affect the optimal arrangement of tort’s rules. The fact that economists have not factored these additional costs and benefits into their analyses calls into question their descriptive and normative claims about tort.

Corrective justice theory is not in as much trouble as the economic approach, but it is troubled still. Philosophers’ neglect of the procedural dimension of tort has caused them to overlook ways that tort does justice between wrongdoers and victims. And it has led them to make misleading claims about the nature of both corrective justice and tort law.

This article draws out the trouble with tort theory through a thought experiment, starring Harry Potter. Potter’s magic helps to highlight the features of tort that the leading theories overlook. Once they are in view, the article considers the ways in which the omissions cast doubt on the claims those theories make, investigates ways they might improved, and offers several observations about the choice between them.

I won't make any bad puns about reforming tort law being a cakewalk. Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Warner Brothers Sues Condom Manufacturer Over [Ssshh...You Know...What Christine O'Donnell Was Talking About] Oh, No--Sorry, Copyright Infringement

Warner Brothers is suing Magic X, a Swiss maker of prophylactics, over the company's product, Harry Popper condoms (more here from the Guardian). The studio is alleging WB's attorney says, "'The image of my client is in danger. This is clearly a reference to the film and fictional character Harry Potter. Everyone who sees the condoms automatically thinks of Harry Potter.'"  [Really? People associate Harry Potter and sex? When I look at the Harry Popper image, frankly, I think of pickles. Very hairy pickles. But that's just me.]

I don't make up the stories, folks, I just blog 'em.

Moral Choice In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels

Victoria Saker Woeste, American Bar Foundation, has published "It Is Our Choices That Show What We Truly Are": Moral Choice in the Harry Potter Novels" in the American Bar Foundation Research Paper Series 10-12. Here is the abstract.

This paper delves into the age-old debate over free will and determinism as raised in the work that held popular culture transfixed for the better part of a decade: the Harry Potter novels. Though the final book was published in 2007, thus revealing the outcome of the series’ cliffhanger, this paper (written in 2006) argues that the books embody a Catholic moral theology and sensibility. The central figure through which those ideas are most fully expressed is not the title character, whose moral sense remains less than completely developed throughout the first six novels, but through another major figure in the series. That character’s mysterious past is whimsically explored here and tied to author J.K. Rowling’s larger purpose: to make the book a vivid object lesson in the power of love, forgiveness, and redemption – all essential elements of the Augustinian notion of free will.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link.

 

New Book On Harry Potter and the Law Forthcoming From Carolina Academic Press

Forthcoming in January 2010 from Carolina Academic Press, The Law and Harry Potter, edited by Jeffrey E. Thomas and Franklin G. Snyder. Here's a description from the website.

This volume considers the depiction of law and legal institutions in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels. It contains more than twenty chapters by legal academics from the U.S. and abroad. The chapters are organized in five sections: Legal Traditions and Institutions, Crimes and Punishments, Harry Potter and Identity, the Wizard Economy, and Harry Potter as an Archetype. Some chapters analyze the way law and legal institutions are portrayed, and what these portrayals teach us about concepts such as morality, justice, and difference. Other chapters use examples from the narratives to illustrate or analyze legal issues, such as human rights, actual innocence, and legal pedagogy. The volume is suitable for undergraduate or law school courses, and will be of interest to those Harry Potter fans who also have an interest in law and the legal profession.

Get a ten percent discount by ordering from the website. (Full disclosure: CAP is my publisher as well).

Harry Potter and the Library Lawsuit

Remember the lawsuit brought by a library employee against the Poplar Bluff Public Library over "Harry Potter Night"? Deborah Smith did not want to work the night that this event was scheduled, raising religious objections, and claimed that she eventually ended up losing her job at the library over her objections. She filed suit and was represented by the local ACLU chapter.

In March, she and the library settled the case before it went to trial. The library paid her $45,000 and in return she dropped all her claims.

Harry Potter's Mom's Birthday

Happy Birthday to J. K. Rowling, born July 31, 1965.

So, why do we celebrate birthdays? And what's the deal with the law of birthdays? Well, of course, the date of one's birth matters for things such as when one is allowed to drive, and get married, and disavow contracts, and be tried as an adult, and BTW start school. If you're not automatically a certain age, I understand, you can't start kindergarten or first grade--you have to wait under the next year--or be certified by the school psychologist as "mature enough" to enter with the cohort roughly the same age as you. Hence, the sitcom episodes about "being held back" and "being nearly a year older than the rest of the kids in the class." This is rough when one is young and can't go to school with one's friends. It used to be done routinely when I was in elementary school. I gather it is not done so routinely now.

Once young people turn 18, they're adults, and their grades, medical records and in some cases insurance become their concern.

Ah, the magic of being a certain age--on a particular day and year. On the day before, you are not legally permitted to drive or drink or go to war and kill (legally) because your country wants you to do so. And on that day, you are.

Here's a post from the Volokh Conspiracy on the law of birthdays.