Comments on: McDonald v. Chicago and Gilbert & Sullivan: The hidden connection!

By: Herb Martin

Herb Martin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:49:58 +0000

In the television show “Angel” about a ‘vampire with a soul’ and other things supernatural, one of the characters Gunn is magically given a complete understanding of the law and other things legal.

Part of the “lawyer package” is a complete knowledge of “Gilbert and Sullivan” — presumably because it improves the ability to deliver arguments verbally, i.e., timing, meter, etc.

By: Alan Gunn

Alan Gunn — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:20:59 +0000

Don’t forget The Mikado, which features the doctrine of equitable conversion by contract, in the setting of explaining Nanki-Poo’s being alive after his supposed execution:

When your Majesty says, “Let a thing be done,” it’s as good as done — practically, it is done — because your Majesty’s will is law. Your Majesty says, “Kill a gentleman,” and a gentleman is told off to be killed. Consequently, that gentleman is as good as dead — practically, he is dead — and if he is dead, why not say so?

Or, as they say in the contract cases, “Equity regards as done that which ought to be done.”

By: Econ_Scott

Econ_Scott — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:01:24 +0000

There is a G_d,

a G_d of eternal Love AND Justice,

He has a sense of Humor.

That pink elephants in the room will be acknowledged

And liars exposed

And “I would not say such things if I were you ! ” (the Princess Bride) yet those things ARE said and an evil prince (In Chicago) laughed at

And a boy (born in Israel no less [Gura]) stands forth from the crowd and Shouts

“The Emporer has no Clothes”

And the whole crowd points and laughs

The Book of Esther Chapter 8 : 1-17

By: EstaLaw

EstaLaw — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:50:06 +0000

I have no connection to the McDonald case, but I was in the audience of the March 1994 show!

By: HMAjor

HMAjor — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:55:22 +0000

It is worth noting that the stripes on Chief Justice Rehnquit’s robes were inspired by a costume in a production of Iolanthe.

By: Kuzbad

Kuzbad — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:38:32 +0000

Also worth noting that Gilbert was trained as a barrister. Many of the operettas contain legal themes.

By: Kuzbad

Kuzbad — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:34:24 +0000

And one of my favorite lines, from Iolanthe:

“The law is the true embodiment
of everything that’s excellent,
it has no kind of fault or flaw
and I, my lords, embody the law” –Lord Chancellor

This quote was in the preface to Colin Imber’s text on Ebu es-Suud, the 16th century Ottoman jurist and Shaykh al-Islam who along with Sultan Suleyman Kanuni (the Lawgiver, also the Magnificent) reconciled Islamic and Ottoman secular law. Very fitting.

By: roguestage

roguestage — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:31:04 +0000

Few posts on this site have made me as happy as this one.

By: Strange McDonald Connections | Snowflakes in Hell

Strange McDonald Connections | Snowflakes in Hell — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:17:52 +0000

[...] Given this, perhaps we should invite some of our gun rights lawyers to put on a production of the Pirates of Penzance at the next NRA Annual Meeting. That’s an event I’d definitely go to, especially if we put Dave Hardy in the Major General’s role. [...]

By: Sasha Volokh

Sasha Volokh — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:35:25 +0000

To say nothing of the contract interpretation issue in Pirates.

By: byomtov

byomtov — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:33:13 +0000

Perhaps Gilbert and Sullivan’s influence on the law now extends further than Iolanthe and Trial by Jury!

Are G&S helping to make the punishment fit the crime, do you think?