Magical Legalism:
Someone suggested the name "magical legalism" for stories about law or lawyers that are basically set in the real world but with some magical or fantastic twist. (If you're that "someone," e-mail me, and I'll update the post to give you credit.)
Can anyone point me to examples of this genre, in which I suppose my The Love Charm would fit? One classic example, I suppose, is The Devil and Daniel Webster. Any others?
I'm enabling comments, so please post the answers there rather than e-mailing me. Thanks!
Honest Lawyer: Your honor, I object!
Judge: Why?
Honest Lawyer: Because it's devastating to my case!
Judge: Overruled.
Honest Lawyer: Good call!
One suggestion - that movie with a slightly over-the-top performance by Al Pacino, "Devil's Advocate", wherein Pacino plays Satan whom is disguised as New York based corporate lawyer named John Milton. Milton, who is obviously aware of the problems of medical malpractice lawsuits, proclaims that lawyers are his Army of Darkness.
"We're coming ouuuuttt!"
Case of the Toxic Spelldump, by Harry Turtledove
Another suggestions - NBC`s Law and Order. Though this is simply a show about Police and District Attorney`s prosecuting criminals, the show does contain a `fantastic twist`, that being, on the show sometimes justice is actually done.
Also, you might try the Lord Darcy stories, by Randall Garrett. They're detective stories, but address questions of proof in a magical universe.
Also in the Harry Potter books several people including Potter are put on trial for various magical offences.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Stephen Vincent Benet's "The Devil and Daniel Webster."
James Blish's novel Black Easter.
Benet's "Daniel Webster and the Sea Serpent" may also be in this category; I haven't seen it.
Manly Wade Wellman, "The Shonokins". Shonokins are the original inhabitants of the Americas; among other oddities, all of them are male. They want their property back.
Arthur Porges, "The Devil and Simon Flagg."
Isaac Asimov, "The Brazen Locked Room."
I wish I could remember title and author of a 1960s story in which the only survivors of WW III are a group of Satanists. One of them sells his soul to an angel.
Frank Herbert wrote The Dosadi Experiment, which ended in an unusual trial.
Cordwainer Smith [Paul Linebarger], in his Instrumentality of Mankind stories, wrote a few set around trials. See Drunkboat, though that seems more like canon law then secular law.
Certainly Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll [Charles Dodgson] is worthy of mention. It's even been referred to in legal briefs.
See the book Judgment at Berlin, about a US judge summoned to Berlin to preside over a hijacking case in the early 80s for an example.
It's a great read. Everytime someone gets whacked, there's lawsuit for wrongful death.
I reccommend the "Penguin Classics" version translated by Robert Cook.
..and some in which a trial takes place, but not critical to the story: "Space Seed" (Khan's 1st appearance)
Come to think of it, one of the main characters in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is Utterson, Jekyll's lawyer. And Jekyll's will -- holographic, because Utterson refuses to draft it -- provides a minor plot point.
The judge ruled (please forgive Issac for this one...)"A niche in time saves Stein."
cathy :-)
Another currently ongoing comic series set in the DC Universe called "Manhunter" stars a frustrated DA who hunts down and kills the supervillains who routinely manage to escape justice by way of manipulating the law.
Another great comic series that dealt with "fantasy law" is "Top 10" by the legendary Alan Moore. It was a cop drama set in a town populated entirely by superfolk called Neopolis. Defense lawyers from the law firm of Fischmann (a humanoid shark), Goebbels (I'm guessing some kind of Nazi) and Metavac (a brain in a jar) all make frequent appearances.
Hope that helps.