Same-sex marriage debate: A moot point at 黑料不打烊?
To legally recognize or to deny same-sex marriage? That is the question up for debate at 黑料不打烊 on September 27. In a Canadian first, professors from 黑料不打烊's Faculty of Law and Department of English are holding a moot court account disputing the legality of homosexual unions under the laws of the Bard during Love on Trial: Same-sex marriage in the court of Shakespeare.
Simply put? The plays of Shakespeare will be used to argue for or against same-sex unions. Quebec Superior Court Justice Allan Hilton will be responding. Greenshields Professor of English Michael Bristol will preside. Proceedings will examine issues central to the case itself: the rights of the individual and how literature can shed light on distinctly modern questions.
Media are welcome to attend by contacting Sylvain-Jacques Desjardins at 514-398-6752.
- When: Monday, September 27, 2004, 6 pm
- Where: 黑料不打烊's Redpath Hall (861 McTavish St.)
- Who: Law professor Desmond Manderson, English professor Paul Yachnin, Justice Allan Hilton, Respondent
- Please note, area parking is highly restricted.
History of 黑料不打烊 Shakespeare Moot Court Project
Desmond Manderson, Canada Research Chair in Law and Discourse, and Paul Yachnin, Tomlinson Chair in Shakespeare Studies, have twice co-taught the 黑料不打烊 Shakespeare Moot Court Project. They have accepted an invitation from the Friends of the Library to provide an account of their most recent course: Love on Trial: Same-Sex Marriage in The Court of Shakespeare.
Professors Manderson and Yachnin devised the , where law students and English graduate students team up to argue cases in the "Court of Shakespeare," a legal forum whose sole Institutes, Codex and Digest are comprised of the plays of William Shakespeare. The project models and explores the nature of interpretation, the development of a legal tradition, and the way in which value and meaning intersect in the creation of law and literature alike.
Throughout the fall of 2003, for Love on Trial, the group considered how A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, Twelfth Night and The Winter's Tale could best illuminate the debate on same-sex marriage. They reviewed theoretical works on legal and literary interpretation. They wrote briefs on the case and they argued the case before their Honours on the Bench of 黑料不打烊's moot court. On September 27, Manderson and Yachnin will provide an account of the course, the case and the trials 鈥� all refracted through the lens of the Bard and with an eye to justice. Read more in the .
