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A LIST OF LEGAL NOVELS
By JoHN H. WIGMORE.a
And what, pray, is a "legal" novel? -For there have surely
not been many illegal novels. The illegalities in which the great
novelists have figured have commonly been not suits for libels
committed, but gallant struggles (like those of Charles Reade)
to protect their copyrights against pirates, or to vindicate themselves
(like poor Cooper) against envenomed reviewers.
A "legal" novel, as here meant, will be simply a novel in
which a lawyer, most of all, ought to be interested.
As for any definition or further subdividing of the "legal"
novel, it is perhaps unprofitable and certainly difficult, being
decidedly open to difference of taste and opinion. Nevertheless,
for those who care to pick and choose, there may be noted, in
the rough, four kinds:
(A) Novels in which some trial scene is described-perhaps
including a skilful cross-examination;
(B) Novels in which the typical traits of a lawyer or judge, or
the ways of professional life, are portrayed;
(C) Novels in which the methods of law in the detection,
pursuit and punishment of crime are delineated; and
(D) Novels in which some point of law. affecting the rights
or the conduct of the personages, enters into the plot. In the
following list these sorts are indicated by the letters A, B, C, D.
But let it be understood that such an indication is suggestive only;
for the class of a particular novel is often a matter for difference
of opinion. Moreover, the list will include only those in
which one of these circumstancs is a more or less prominent
feature.
But the list need not try to catologue all such works of
fiction-good, bad, or indifferent. Where shall the line be drawn?
On the one hand, it must not purport to include merely the works
of the great masters, from Fielding and Dickens to Stevenson
and Howells. Yet it may properly be confined to what may be
called literature, i. e., novels in which character is delineated by a
writer of whom style may be predicated. A few novels, indeed,
must be included to which many would not concede these qualities-for
example, "Mr. Meeson's Will;" and a few must be exaprofessor
of Law in Northwestern University.
574
A LIST OF LEGAL NOVELS
cluded, because, though possibly within that definition, they belong
to a writer whose influence is bad-such as the trumpery
Raffles stories. It is obvious, too, that the ordinary detective
story-even Mr. Julian Hawthorne's and Mrs, Green's-does not
fulfill the canons, while Mr. Aldrich's "Stillwater Tragedy," Mr.
Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes," and M. Gaboriau's "Monsieur Lecocq"
do cross the line safely.
But, after all, what is served by such a list? Does a lawyer
go to a novel to learn his law? And would he even recommend
the layman to look into works of fiction for forming correct notions
of the ways of the law? Do not even the greatest of the "legal"
novels portray rather the shortcomings and abuses of justice?
And will not their perusal by the layman tend rather to fix in
his mind (perhaps already prejudiced) a picture distorted and
untrue? And even in the commonplace legal incidents of novels,
are there not examples galore of the most impossible and unlegal
doings? Does not the judge sometimes, in a novel, dictatorially
order the jury to declare a defendant guilty of murder, or the
plaintiff pay damages when a verdict in a civil case is found for
the defendant; or the sheriff sell off the debtor's property before
action is begun-et alia enormia? In short, why encourage the
layman to read a "legal" novel?
Well, let us repeat, we are not making a list for laymen. We
have in mind rather the novel in which the lawyer himself is, or
ought to be, most interested. And from this point of view we
can think of several reasons why such a list is worth the labor.
It is certain that the lawyer must, like other men, for his pastime
and mental ease, abandon himself now and then to the thrall
of fiction. He will not read all the novels-even all the good
ones; he will probably not read many. He must select. Let him,
then, select those which will mean something to him as a lawyer,
will mean something more perhaps than they could to one not
within that elect profession with all its traditions, its memories,
its secrets of the craft. And thus, since he must select he will
want to select those which as a lawyer he cannot afford to ignore.
In the first place, there are certain episodes or types of character
in professional life whose descriptions by famous novelists
have become classical in literature, such as Sergeant Buzfuz and
the action of Bardell v. Pickwick in the "Pickwick Papers," the
chancery suit in "Bleak House," Effie Dean's trial in "The Heart
of Midlothian." With these every lawyer must be acquainted,
576 2 ILLINOIS LAW REVIEW
not merely because of his general duty as a cultivated man, but
because of his special professional duty to be familiar with those
features of his profession which have been taken up into general
thought and literature. What lawyer can go through life unfamiliar
with such classical gifts to the world as the character of
Advocate Pleydell in "Guy Mannering," of Attorney Tulkinghorn
in "Bleak House," of Magistrate Popinot in "Cesar Birotteau,"
and "A Commission in Lunacy," of Attorney Godoschal's office
in "A Start in Life?" What lawyer can neglect to tread the
paths of his professional progenitors' pursuits in "Copperfield" and
"Pendennis" and "Redgauntlet" and "The Lesser Bourgeoisie?"
Or to be ignorant of the never-fading scenes in "The Scarlet Letter"
and "Les Miserables"-the perpetual possession of humanity?
Or to know Smith's Leading Cases while unfamiliar with Peebles
v. Planestones and Jarndyce v. Jarndyce? And there are many
romances, not yet exalted into classical niches, which claim us
in every other respect; the thrilling trial scenes in Hale's "Philip
Nolan's Friends," in Reade's "Griffith Gaunt," in Harte's "Gabriel
Conroy," in Blackmore's "Lorna Doone," in Holland's "Sevenoaks,"
in Foote's "John Bodewin's Testimony," in Gray's "Silence
of Dean Maitland." And shall "Pudd'nhead Wilson" be forgot?
Scott and Dickens are of course preeminently the lawyer's novelists,
but no lawyer can fail to believe that certain others wrote
their books (not classical yet, nor marked perhaps by any single
undying episodes) especially for him-the lawyers' careers in
Trollope's "Orlay Farm," in Ford's "Peter Stirling" (said to
reflect a career like that of ex-President Cleveland), and in Warren's
"Ten Thousand a Year" (the book for lawyers by a lawyer) ;
the sheriff's life in Alice French's (Octave Thanet) stories, par.
ticularly" The Missionary Sheriff ;" the lawyers and the law that
permeate the books of Mary Murfree (Charles Craddock, herself
the daughter of a lawyer and legal author), of Charles Reade,
of Anthony Trollope, of Stanley Weyman. And who cannot
want to peruse, woven into romance in Eggleston's "The Grayson's,"
Abraham Lincoln's oft-told maneuvre with the almanac,
the tale of a liar exposed, or Jeffreys' brutal trial of Lady Lisle,
the friend of the fugitives, in "Micah Clarke ?"
'This is the best place to note that their legal lore has been once for
all collected and entertainingly (as well as learnedly) described by Mr.
John Marshall Gest of Philadelphia, in his two essays, "The Law and
Lawyers of Charles Dickens" and "The Law and Lawyers of Sir Walter
Scott," reprinted from the American Law Register, vols. 53 and 54 (19o5,
i9o6).
A LIST OF LEGAL NOVELS
Then, again, there are the great movements of legal reform
which have been aided or reflected in the novelist's works. It
is one thing to know that imprisonment for debt has been abolished;
or to con a catalogue of the reforms of the nineteenth century
in the "Select Essays in Anglo-American, Legal History ;" or
to read the lives of Eldon, Denman, Brougham, or Field. But it
is another, and a necessary thing, to know the spirit of those timesto
realize the operation of the old rules now gone-to feel their
meaning in human life and to appreciate the bitter conflicts and
their lessons for to-day. This deepest sense of their reklity we
shall get only in the novels. Two great figures stand out as,
leaders-Charles Dickens and Charles Reade. No man can truly
apportion the meed of influence between them and the lawyerlegislators-Mackintosh,
Romilly, Brougham, Denman, Campbell.
But it is certain that the former sunned and watered what the
latter sowed and reaped. We must go to "Bleak House" to learn
the real meaning of chancery's delays, to "Oliver Twist" to see
the actual system of police and petty justice in London, to "Pickwick
Papers" to appreciate the technicalities of civil justice. Was
jail-reform more aided by Bentham's essays or by Charles Reade's
"Never Too Late to Mend?"' How soon would the right to
imprison sane people in the private lunatic asylums have been
abolished if "Hard Cash" had not been writtenr"t That great
author's life, in fact, was one long knight-errantry against the
dragons and giants of the times. But even when we leave these
eminent leaders we find the institutional abuses of contemporary
life pictured in novels here and there with a realism which makes
them almost appendices to the law books. Henry Kingsley's
"Austin Elliot" is said to have inspired a stringent legislation
against duelling; Balzac's "Cesar Birotteau" exposes the misery
'It is proper here to keep on helping to kill the slander, long ago
started, and chiefly given currency in Lamon's Life, that Lincoln used a
spurious almanac; the slander has been amply refuted by a competent
witness, Mr. James L. King, ex rel. Judge Bergen, in the North American
Review, 1898, vol. i66, p. 186.
'Reade himself said that to exaggerate the description of the abuses
would be harder than "to write a libel on hell."
We cannot credit "Bleak House" with influencing the first important
reforms in chancery, for it was printed at the very moment of enacting
them, in 1852. In Mr. Gest's phrase, "Dickens did not kill the chancery
snake, but only jumped on it after it was dead." But was it then quite
dead?
'This book's circulation was in its day exceeded only by "Uncle Tom's
Cabin."
2 ILLINOIS LAW REVIEW
and chicanery of bankruptcy proceedings; Cooper's "Ways of the
Hour" tried trial by jury on its merits; Besant's "Chaplain of the
Fleet" makes us wonder how the miseries of the old Fleet debtors'
prison could have been allowed to exist as long as they did. No
man who has not read Besant's "The Orange Girl" can appreciate
the terrible significance of the punishment of the pillory.
Cooper's "Satanstoe" and "Chainbearer" (and "The Redskins" belongs
also to the series) reflect the system of land-tenure in early
New York and that "anti-rent" agitation which was so intense a
problem in those days that we wonder it could ever have been
forgotten. The system of transporting convicts to Botany Bay
has been a favorite theme; in the best of these stories, though
not ranked among the classics, are John Boyle O'Reilly's "Moondyne,"
Rolf Boldrewod's Australian books, and Becke's and Jeffrey's
"A First FleeL Family."' Can a lawyer know his profession
and its past without knowing these things, and the parts
that these many legal institutions have played in the life of the
community?
And again, there are the novels which depict history for usthat
is, the scenes in legal annals which general history has made
famous. Here, of course, the magic of Scott has done most. The
Vehmgericht in "Anne of Geierstein," the cruel justice of Louis
XI in "Quentin Durward," the ancient trial by battle in "Ivanhoe,"
and the trial by ordeal in "The Fair Maid of Perth"-are there
not many who will never know nor need to know more of these
things than are chronicled by the great romancer? And the unspeakable
Jeffreys, all the serious rehabilitations of modern historians
(including Mr. Zane) will not avail to lighten the picture
which the novelists have drawn of his trials; for -these have
given one of their favorite topics-at London, in "Peveril of the
Peak" and in "Lorna Doone," and on the circuit of the Bloody
Assizes, in Besant's "For Faith and Freedom," and in Conan
'Perhaps here belong, too, many novels which depict a special problem
or institution of law, not having in mind its abuses or reforms, but full
of instruction and reflection for the lawyer, or notable as classics of
romance-"Felix Holt," for example, with a plot turning on a base fee
in land; "Paul Clifford," with its terrible problem for the judge; "Eugene
Aram," an elaborated transcript of a notable English murder trial.
Here, too, are to be noted the interesting pictures of alien systems of
justice-Caine's "The Deemster;" Ercknann-Chatrian's '"Polish Jew" (said
to be the foundation of Irving's play, "The Bells"); Franzos' Austrian
stories; Jokai's Hungarian stories; Crawford's for Italy; Tolstoi's superb
"Resurrection;" and, of course, Balzac, Gaboriau, Sue and Dumas for
France, and Scott for the ancient modes of trial.
A LIST OF LEGAL NOVELS
Doyle's "Micah Clarke" (this surely must begin to be placed
among our classics; it is not too soon). And in "Kidnapped"
Stevenson has given us the pages from Howell's State Trials.
"Barnaby Rudge," too, almost echoes the witnesses in Lord Gordon's
trial for the riot, and we may study Lord Mansfield here.
Going further afield we live over again the times of the ill-fated
Roman Republic-in "Rienzi," and observe the tragic fate of the
DeWitts in Dumas' "Black Tulip." There is in fact hardly an
end to the line of boundary where history and law unite in the
pages of the novelist.'
And who cannot feel that this lore is meant for him as a
lawyer? What man can say that he is a member of our profession
and not want to be familiar with these things? And so, shall
there not be a list of "legal" novels?
But there is a higher standpoint yet. For the novel-the
true work of fiction-is a catalogue of life's characters. And
the lawyer must know human nature. He must deal understandingly
with its types, its motives. These he cannot find-all of
them-close around him; life is not long enough, the variety is
not broad enough for him to learn them by personal experience
before he needs to use them. For this learning, then, he must go
to fiction, which is the gallery of life's portraits. When Balzac's
great design dawned on him, to form a complete series of characters
and motives, he conceived his novels as conveying just
such learning. He even enumerated the total number of characters.
His task was, he says:'
"To paint the three or four thousand salient figures of an epochfor
that is about the number of types presented by the generation of which
this human comedy is the contemporary and the exponent, this number
of figures, of characters, this multitude of portraits, needed frames. Out
of this necessarily grew the classification of my work into Scenes. Under
these heads I have classed all those studies of manners and morals which
form the general history of Society. * * * If the meaning of my work
is understood, my readers will see that I give to the recurring events of'
daily life (secret or manifest), and to the actions of individuals, with their
hidden springs and motives, as much importance as the historian bestows
on the public life of a nation."
In this view the work of the novelist is to provide a museum of
human characters, traits and motives-just as we might go to a
'Doubtless these could be traced out in the recent work (which the
present writer has not seen) of Mr. Ernest A. Baker, "History, in Fiction:
a Guide to the Best Historical Romances, Sagas, Novels, and Tales" (Igo8),
which contains brief annotations to the titles.
'Preface of 1848--"One of the world's great prefaces," Brunetiere calls
z ILLINOIS LAW REVIEW
museum of zo6logy to observe an animal which we desired to understand
but had never yet seen alive; this was Balzac's idea:
- "There have always been, and always will be, social species, just as
there are zo6logical species. If Buffon achieved a great work when he
put together in one book the whole scheme of zoology, is there not a work
of the same kind to be done for Society? * * * There are as many
different men as there are species in zo~logy. The differences between a
soldier, a workman, a merchant, a sailor, a poet, a beggar, a priest, though
more difficult to decipher, are at least as marked as those which separate
the wolf, the lion, the ass, the crow, the shark, the seal, the lamb, and
so on."
And so the lawyer, whosd highest problems call for a perfect
understanding of human character and a skilful use of this
knowledge, must ever expect to seek in fiction as in an encyclopedia,
that learning which he cannot hope to compass in his own
limited experience of the humans whom chance enables him to
observe at close range. This learning has been sought, possessed,
and valued by many great advocates. Perhaps they have seldom
openly inculcated its value. But we find at hand one singularly direct
exposition of this theme, which must here be quoted :1
Read the literature of the lawyers. Read the lives of those great lawyers
and judges of England. Read the literature of human nature. The lawyers
can gain many points by reading.
To my mind Balzac is the greatest judge of human nature after
Shakespeare. I think I learned more of human nature (outside of my
own experience) from Balzac than I have from any other author except
Shakespeare. I recall especially "Eug~nie Grandet," the history of a miser.
I have read that book two or three times, and this is how it profited me
afterwards. I was retained in a very serious case of fraud. I studied
the party on the other side I made up my mind that if ever there was
a miser out of the pages of literature, that was the man, and that Grandet
was his literary father-in-law. I studied "Eugenie Grandet" again, and
then I attacked that opponent. It was an eight years' task. But the image
of Grandet helped me to hound that man so that at the end of eight years
there was not anything left but his hide. The greatest admirer of the work
I did is that man's own lawyer; but he will not give me credit for having
any legal acumen. He maintains that I knew all the facts beforehand.
Yet the truth of the matter was that I did not; I drew the bill before
I had the facts. I merely judged the man's character from what I had
read of "Eug~nie Grandet." That experience was to me a life lesson.
Let me allude also to another case, one that nearly broke me down
with the mental and physical strain. I had bought every printed trial I
could find on that particular subject. I had a year to prepare for the
actual trial of the case. There were very eminent lawyers on the other
side. I will not mention names, for the parties are living. But I did
not receive from all these books as much light as I did from a certain
classical novel, one that characterized exactly the plaintiff's object *and
put that party in the lime-light. With that aid I was able to follow all
the ins and outs of his maneuvers, and finally to win the case. It was a
'Mr. W. K. Lowrey, of the Chicago Bar, has related to the writer an
apalogous case, in which he solved the mystery of a fraudulent bankruptcy
on calling to mind the bookkeeping methods which figure in Freytag's
"Debit and Credit."
A LIST OF LEGAL NOVELS
work of fiction that guid'd me to a right solution of that person's character,
and a knowledge of his character that was essential to victory.
Still another lesson I now recall which I learned from reading-a
a lesson I will never forget. It related to a gentleman by the name of
Gil Bias. Gil had various and sundry adventures, and among others he
was made secretary to the Archbishop of Toledo. The Archbishop said
to him one day: "Gil, I look upon you as a very likely young man, I
like your intelligence and acumen. Now I am getting old. I have to
preach once a month. Make it your duty to let me know when you see
any failing signs in my mental powers. I will trust you as a friend to
tell me about it." So Gil noted the character of the sermon the next
month. Then he heard the ensuing sermon; and he thought the Archbishop
showed signs of age and senility. At the third sermon he was
more satisfied of this, and the fourth was shockingly significant. He complimented
the Archbishop on the first sermon, and spoke fairly of the
second, but of the others he did not. The Archbishop asked, "Now, Gil,
what is the truth?" Gil said: "Your eminence, your mental powers are
failing rapidly." "Gil," responded the Archbishop, "I find that I am mistaken
in your acumen. The treasurer will pay you and you will leave
the house." I have never forgotten the moral of that story. Such incidents
of literature add to your knowledge.'
And so the best literature-drama or poetry, philosophy or fiction-musf
always be an arsenal for the lawyer This, to be sure,
is a larger matter than our "legal" novels; yet it includes the best of
them.
But there is one more thing worth lingering over, before we
come to our list itself, and that is the sources of the information and
skill of our "legal" novelists. Where did they learn their legal lore?
How could they find and use the materials for their legal scenes and
characters ?
This, of course, has varied infinitely with the individual methods
of work. Yet, on the whole, it is possible to distinguish certain general
differences. There are, roughly, three groups. There are the
novelists who were themselves lawyers, or were trained for the law.
There are also a few who learned much of it by personal experience
in litigation of their own. And then there are those-the
most part, of course-who prepared for the legal episodes by special
research.
To the first belong, of course, in prime rank, Fielding, Scott,
Balzac and Dickens. A long life in the law, as barristers and as magistrates,
gave to Fielding and to Scott the material of the law as a
second nature!' Balzac was destined and trained for it; only at the
'Address of Mr. Frank J. Loesch, President of the Chicago Bar Association,
in the Legal Tactics Series, at Northwestern University Law
School, I9o5; published in the Iu.iNois LAW REviEw, 19o7, vol. I, pp. 455,
465, entitled, "The Acquisition and Retention of a Clientage."
"°Scott, of course, like all the great masters, also made special studies
for the accuracy of individual incidents, particularly the historical ones.
582 a ILLINOIS LAW REVIEW
last moment could he evade his family's ambitions to chain him
for life to the lawyer's desk Dickens, as an attorney's clerk and a
court reporter, had all the direct experience which a lawyers's life
gives, and almost all the training which a lawyer was then expected
to have. There are, too, among to-day's contemporaries, notable like
instances-Robert Grant, Anthony Hope Hawkins, Frederic 3.
Stimson; though it is odd that most of these avoid the legal life in
their fiction. Arthur Train, however, with the vantage point of a
District Attorney's office, may well turn out to be our modern Fielding,
if he broadens his canvas.
In the second group are pre-eminent Cooper and Reade. During
the latter half of their lives, it would seem that not a year
passed, for either, without a lawsuit pending; and thus they came to
observe the lawyer within his native lair. Reade, indeed, did enter
at Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar; but it does not appear
that he then studied or worked or ever held a brief, or did more
than eat the perfunctory dinners; and his most intense interest in
the law was not shown until after he had himself brought a suit to
rescue a young friend from an asylum. His law he must have
learned mostly from the controversies of reform which he took
up and from his own constant lawsuits and the numerous lawyers
retained by him. These latter, indeed, he sampled variously and
judged freely and dictatorially. Listen to this passage from a letter
:1 "My successes have been hardly won. In this case I had to
dismiss Jessel for incapacity, Ballantyne for colloquy with defendant's
attorney; Teesdale because of his chief clerk's incapacity; and
Rickerd's managing clerk." The client who could dismiss Jessel and
Ballantine must indeed have been self-confident in his own legal
acumen. But Charles Reade, after all, was himself "the people's
lawyer," never-tiring advocate for humanity. Cooper, too, seems to
have engaged in his lawsuits largely as a matter of principle-to
defend the rights of authors and the liberty of thought. This
famous romancer, much misunderstood and disliked in his own
generation (first by our alien kin across seas, and then by his own
neighbors and community), found himself from 1837 onwards in
almost continuous litigation; and it is noticeable that the majority
of his novels with legal episodes and characters date in that period.
Himself without legal training, he was by nature (like Charles
His appendix-notes exhibit many of these instances. Mr. Gest has pointed
out numerous additional ones; his comparison of Scott's "Betrothed" and
Tennyson's "Enoch Arden" shows how desirable such accuracy may become.
'Memoirs, by C. L. and C. Reade (1887), p. 384.
A LIST OF LEGAL NOVELS
Reade) an uncompromising fighter for his rights-a striking example
of the type of man whom Ihering's "Struggle for Right" delights
to honor. He had usually an unpopular cause, and he was
an unpopular man; but he accomplished the remarkable feat, which
the greatest of lawyers might envy, of succeeding with judge and
jury when he argued his own cause' No such a record can probably
be found in history. It is no wonder that he was entitled to weave
into his novels, with every claim of verisimilitude, whatever he
pleased of legal episode and character.
In the third group belong, naturally, most of the novelists who
have dealt with phases of the law. Not having the lawyer's profession
or a plentiful experience of lawsuits as their source of information,
they have been obliged to obtain by special study the
sources adapted to their immediate purpose. Many, of course, have
failed, for lack of thoroughness; and the successes are due (where
traceable) to the persistent resolve of accuracy in research-the directness
of touch with the material of life. Charles Reade, to be
sure, belongs in this group also, for perhaps no great realist of contemporary
life (except Balzac) made so systematic a search for
materials of life pictures--the objective truth of his character
facts. His system of newspaper clippings and scrap-books is well
known.' His preliminary search of Parliamentary documents and
other verified data made him an insuperable opponent in his many
controversies over contemporary law and fact. Here is an example
of his reply to a sneering reviewer -."
"Can any man offer a fairer test of a book's veracity than I did? I
said, in my preface to 'Hard Cash,' that the whole thing rested on a mass
of legal evidence-bluebooks, pamphlets, newspapers, private letters, diaries
of alleged lunatics, reports of tried cases. I offered, in print, to show
'In these trials he was assisted by his nephew, Richard Cooper, who
was his regular counsel. But, outside of him, in the civil suits, he had
very rarely any help, and in most of them he argued his own cause. Wherever
he appeared in person, he seems to have come off uniformly victorious.
Nor were his victories won over inferior opponents, * * * the men against
whom Cooper was pitted stood in the very front rank of their profession;
they were leaders of the bar in the greatest state in the Union." (Lounsbury's
Cooper, 1883, p. 182). The most remarkable instance was his complete
victory in the suit involving the correctness of his account of the
Battle of Lake Erie.
'At least one -hour a day was expended in making cuttings from newspapers
and magazines for his 'invaluable' note-books, as he termed them.
* * * The dread of missing some good thing caused him to waste at
least three hundred hours per annum on scissors-and-paste work; so that
eventually, when he came to catalogue and classify all this congeries of
information, the headings alone covered twelve pages of printed matter
in double columns" (Wemoir , p. 337)..
"'Readiana, "A Terrible Temptation" p. 271 (reply to the Toronto
Globe).
z ILLINOIS LAW REVIEW
these, at my own house, to any anonymous writer who might care to profit
by my labor-the labor of Hercules. * * * How many, do you suppose,
accepted this infallible test of mendacity or veracity in my book?
Not one !"
But, naturally, the methods differed with the individual . It
would be interesting to trace out the methods of the other great
delineators of legal episodes. George Eliot's success, in what must
have been purely a tour de force, is well known, and has earned
approval from no less than Sir Frederick Pollock, in his history of
The Land Laws :?
"The curious kind of estate created by the conveyance in fee simple
of a tenant in tail in possession, without the concurrence of the owners
of estates preceding his own, is called a base fee. Though uncommon, it
is not unknown in practice; and it has been used by. George Eliot, in
'Felix Holt,' with great effect and with perfect correctness, as part of the
machinery of the plot; insomuch that conveyancers reading the novel have
been known to comment seriously, as if the thing had happened to one
of their own clients, that the parties did not take better advice."
But it is Robert Louis Stevenson-that beautiful soul of authorship-who
has furnished us perhaps the most interesting instance
of conscientious and painstaking preparation of the correct
scenery of a legal drama to which the author adds the magic spirit
of life and action. No one ever read "Kidnapped" and its sequel,
"David Balfour," with a cool thought as to the construction of its
plot, or the historic foundation; but the story was in fact woven
out-of a recorded trial, used for the purpose." Mrs. Stevenson thus
tells of its creation ."
"I concluded to try and write it myself [i. e., a play called 'The Hanging
Judge']. As I wanted a trial scene in the Old Bailey, I chose the
period of 1oo for my purpose; but, being shamefully ignorant of my
subject, and my husband confessing to little more knowledge than I possessed,
a London bookseller was commissioned to send us everything he
could procure bearing on Old Bailey trials. A great package came in
response to our order, and very soon we were both absorbed-not so much
in the trials as in following the brilliant career of a Mr. Gar.row, who
appeared as counsel in many of the cases. We sent for more books, and
yet more, still intent on Mr. Garrow, whose subtle cross-examination of
witnesses, and masterly, if sometimes startling, methods of arriving at
the truth seemed more thrilling to us than any novel. Occasionally other
trials than those of the Old Bailey would be included in the package of
books we received from London; among these my husband found and
read with avidity. 'The Trial of James Stewart in Ancharn in Duror of
Appin, for the Murder of Colin Campbell, of Glenure, Esq., Factor for his
Majesty on the forfeited estate of Ardshiel.' My husband was always interested
in this period of his country's history, and had already the intention of
writing a story that should turn on the Appin murder. The tale was to
be of a boy, David Balfour, supposed to belong to my husband's own
"2d ed., p. iio. This reference has been furnished the writer by Mr.
Theodore Schmidt, one of the committees named below.
"The trial mentioned by Mrs. Stevenson was had in 1752, and may be
found in ig Howell's State Trials, pp. 1-262.
"Preface to "Kidnapped," Biographical Edition (Scribner's, i9o5).
A LIST OF LEGAL NOVELS
family, who should travel in Scotland as though it were a foreign country,
meeting with various adventures and misadventures by the way. From the
trial of James Stewart my husband gleaned much valuable material for
his novel, the most important being the character of Alan Breck. Aside
from having described him as 'smallish in stature,' my husband seems to
have taken Alan Breck's personal appearance, even to his clothing, front
the book. * * * There are many incidents given in the trial that point
to Alan's fiery spirit and Highland quickness to take offence. One witness
'declared also that the said Alan Breck threatened that he would challenge
Ballievsolan and his sons to fight because of his removing the declarant
last year 'from Glenduror.' On another page, 'Duncan Campbell, changekeeper
at Annat, aged thirty-five years, married, witness cited, sworn,
purged and examined et supra, depones, That, in the month of April last,
the deponent met with Alan Breck Stewart, with whom he was not acquainted,
and John Stewart, in Auchnacoan, in the house of the walk
miller of Auchofragan, and went on with them to the house; Alan Breck
Stewart said, that he hated all the name of Campbell; and the deponent
said, he had no reason for doing so; but Alan said, he had very good
reason for it; that thereafter they left that house; and after drinking a
dram at another house, came to the deponent's house, where they went
in and drunk some drams, and Alan Breck renewed the former conversation,
and the deponent making the same answer, Alan said that if the
deponent had any respect for his friends, he would tell them that if they
offered to turn out the possessors of Afdshiel's estate, he would make
black cocks of them, before they entered into possession, by which the
deponent understood shooting them, it being a common phrase in the
country.' Some time after the publication of "Kidnapped" we stopped
for a short time in the Appin country, where we were surprised and interested
to discover that the feeling concerning the murder of Glenure (the
'Red Fox,' also called 'Colin Ray') was almost as keen as though the
tragedy. had taken place the day before. ,For several years my husband
received letters of expostulation or commendation from members of the
Campbell and Stewart clans."
Even more interesting was Stevenson's legal research into tlre
materials for "Weir of Hermiston,"--that last and unfinished
work, of which he wrote once, 'Wind you, I expect it to be my
masterpiece." Under the name of "The Justice Clerk" (as originally
selected), it was to depict the great Hanging Judge, confronted
at the last with the stern ordeal of sentencing to death his own
son-a situation already in literature in Bulwer's "Paul Clifford."
The Lord Justice Clerk was the Scottish name for the head of the
criminal justiciary; and Stevenson took every pains to prepare accurately
the law of his case. Sidney Colvin thus reports a part of
those efforts :"
"In a letter of Stevenson's to Mr. Baxter, of October, 1892, I find
him asking for materials in terms which seem to indicate that he knew
this [legal problem) quite well: 'I wish Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, quam
primnum. Also an absolutely correct text of the Scots' judiciary oath.
Also, in case Pitcairn does not come down late enough, I wish as full
a report as possible of a Scot's murder trial between 1790-1820. Understand,
the fullest possible. Is there any book which would guide me to the
following facts: The Justice-Clerk tries some people capitally on circuit.
Certain evidence cropping up, the charge is transferred to the Justice-Clerk's
'Editorial Note to "Weir of Hermiston," Biographical Edition.
2 ILLINOIS LAW REVIEW
own son. Of course in the next trial the Justice-Clerk is excluded, and
the case is called before the Lord Justice-General. Where would this trial
have to be? I fear in Edinburgh, which would not suit my view. Could
it be again at the circuit town?' The point was referred to a quondam
fellow-member with Stevenson of the Edinburgh Speculative Society, Mr.
Graham Murray, the present Solicitor-General for Scotland, whose reply
was to the effect that there would be no difficulty in making the new
trial take place at the.circuit town; that it would have to le held there
in the spring or autumn, before two Lords of Justiciary; and that the
Lord Justice-General would have nothing to -do with it, this title being
at the date in question only a nominal one held by a layman. (which is
no longer the case). On this, Stevenson writes: "Graham Murray's note
re the venue was highly satisfactory, and did me all the good in the world."'
And so, in the hands of a master, the law of a legal novel may
after all be made as true to reality as when the scribe is of the
vocation of law.
And now, at last, for our list. As here offered, it is of composite
workmanship, and has grown with the accretions of ten
years. It might be, no doubt, much fuller, but at least it is longer
and better than before. It began in a manuscript list of some fifty
titles, prepared by the present writer in i898.' This was then enlarged
to about one hundred titles for publication in The Brief;'
and that list was then reprinted (without permission) in The Library
Journal'and (with permission) in The Atheneum Monthly Bulletin.'
To improve it effectively, both in the earlier classics and in the
recent fiction, some co-operative effort became necessary. Accordingly,
committees were appointed, who kindly undertook to examine
the works of one hundred selected novelists of standing.'
'Apparently the pioneer list was that of Professor Eugene Wambaugh,
published in the Iowa University Law Bulletin in 1889. A few titles in
this, not found in the present writer's original list, were thankfully appro-
priated.
'Vol. II, No. 2, p. 124 (New York, January, igoo).
'February, igoi.
'Westfield, Mass., May, IgoI.
'The following members of the Northwestern University Law School
undertook to examine ten authors each: Messrs. W. J. Dixon, 0. D.
Stern, W. A. Amberg, T. Schmidt, E. M. Liessmann, C. D. B. Royal, L T.
Wilson. The following members of the School undertook to examine one
author each: Messrs. Engel, Patterson, Kay, Wilkinson, Marx, Levin,
Kuhn, Payne, Ackerman, Reed, Prendergast, Wolf, Fales, Skinner, Underwood,
Anderson, Zeiss, Ogden, Stretton, Davies, Treadwell, Philips, Cahen,
Westcott, Wittmeyer, Carter, Huttner, Bamberger, Satterlee, Schmidt, Rein.
A detailed report from all of these committees might have been interesting,
as the following passage shows, from the report, of the committee
on Opie Read:
"Mr. Read's descriptions of trials and lawyers are all in a humorous
vein-not given directly, but as side shots-and apply to the old school
of lawyers, whose principal assets were a corncob pipe and 'a hankerin' fer
licker,' and who were noted, not for their profound knowledge of the law,
but for their wit in the courtroom-which he speaks of as the theater
of the South. His trial scenes are all laid in Arkansas, where only minor
difficulties -are tried in court; real trouble is still tried there in regular
A LIST OF LEGAL NOVELS
The result of these efforts, together with the suggestions of
other readers, has been to increase the list by about two hundred
and seventy-five titles, making some three hundred and seventy-five
in all.' Perhaps some day it can be made more nearly complete with
detailed annotations which would greatly increase its usefulness.
Certainly the subject is worthy of more extended consideration.
A LIST OF LEGAL NOVELS."
Ainrworth, Harrison:
Jack Sheppard. (C)
Star Chamber. (C,D)
Aldrich, Thomas Bailey:
Stillwater Tragedy. (C)
Allen, Grant:
Miss Cayley's Adventures.
(A,D)
Alton:
The Manuscript in the Red
Box. (C)
Auerbach, Berthold,
Landolin. (A,C)
Austin, Jane Goodwin:
Betty Alden.- (A)
de Balzac, Honor6:
Csar Birotteau. (D)
Cousin Pons. (B,D)
Pare Goriot. (D)
Two Brothers. (D)
Lucian de Rubempr6 (AC)
Historical Mystery. (A,C)
Lesser Bourgeoisie. (B,D)
Gobseck. (D)
Colonel Chabert. (B)
Commission in Lunacy. (A,B)
Gallery of Antiquities. (B)
Last Incarnation of Vautrim.
(C)
Pierrette. (D)
Brotherhood of Consolation.
(C,D)
Vicar of Tours. (D)
Lost Illusions. (BD)
Village Rector. (C)
Start in Life. (B)
Marriage Contract. (D)
Barr. Amelia E. H.:
Black Shilling. (A)
Friend Olivia. (A)
Household of McNeil. (C)
Barr, Robert, and Crane, Ste-
phen:
The O'Ruddy. (C)
Becke. Louis, and Jeffrey, Wal-
ter:
First Fleet Family. (C)
Besant, Walter:
All Sorts and Conditions of
Men. (D)
Dorothy Forster. (AD)
Ivory Gate. (B,C)
St. Katherine's by the Tower.
(A,B,C)
The World Went Very Well
Then. (A)
For Faith and Freedom.
(A,B)
Orange Girl. (A.B,C)
Lady of Lynn. (B,D)
Arkansas fashion, i e., by loading up on moonshine whiskey and hunting
for the opponent with a rifle seven feet long."
'The assistance of ,Frank J. Loesch, Esq., President of the Chicago
Bar Association in i9o5, must be specially acknowledged.
'In addition to the restrictions of scope already noted, the list does
not purport to have covered short stories (though a few have been included),
nor novels by foreign authors unless translated into English.
*NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT THIS LIST MAY NOT BE REPRINTED, WITHOUT
PER.MISSION OF THE ILLINOIS LAW REvIEW, IN ANY OTHER PERIODICAL.
2 ILLINOIS LAW REVIEW
Holy Rose. (A)
Beyond the Dreams of Avarice.
(D)
Besant, Walter, and Rice, Jas.:
Chaplain of the Fleet (Prison).
(C,D)
Bele. M. Henri (De Stendhal)
Chartreuse de Parme. (C)
Black, William:
Maid of Sker. (B)
Blackrnore, R. D.:
Lorna Doone. (A)
Cradock Nowell. (B)
Boldrewood, Rolf:
Robbery under Arms. (C)
Bulwer-Lytton, Edward:
Rienzi. (A)
Eugene Aram. (A,C)
Night and Mornin-. (D)
Paul Clifford. (A.C)
Bunyan, John:
Holy War. (A)
Pilgrim's Progress (A)
Burnett, Frances Hodgson:
DeWillou-hbv Claim. (D)
Bjner,E. Lasseter:
Begum's Daughter. (A)
Damen's Ghost. (D)
Cable, George W.:
Silent South. (C)
Stories of Louisiana. (A,D)
Caine. Hall:
Deemster. (C. B)
Manxman. (A.B)
Shadow of a Crime. (C)
Son of Hag-ar. (A)
Cervantes.Michael:
Don Quixote. (B)
Churchhill, Winston:
Richard Carvel. (D)
Clarke. Marcus:
His Natural Life. (C)
Cockton, Henry:
Valentine Vox the Ventriloquist.
(B.D)
Collins. Wilkie:
Armadale. (B.C)
Haunted Hotel. (B,C)
Heart and Science. (B)
Stolen Letter. (B)
Evil Genius. (A,B)
Blind Love. (C)
Law and the Lady. (AD)
Mfin and Wife. (D)
Moonstone. (C)
Woman in White. (D)
John Jago's Ghost. (C)
Murderer of the Archbishop
of Paris. (A, C)
Jezebel's Daughter. (B)
No Name. (B,D)
Plot in Private Life. (AB,C)
My Lady's Money. (B,C),
Poor Miss Finch. (C)
Conrad, Joseph:
Lord Jim. (A)
Romance. (A)
Cooper, James Fenimore:
Bravo. (C)
Headsman. (A)
Monikins. (A)
Spy. (A)
Ways of the Hour. (A,B,C)
Homeward Bound. (C)
Pioneers. (B)
Redskins. (B,C,D)
Wing-and-Wing. (A,C)
Satanstoe. (D)
Chainbearer. (D)
Corelli, Marie:
Barabbas. (A,C)
Craddock, Chas. Egbert (Mary
Murfree) :
In the Stranger People's
Country. (C)
In the Clouds. (A)
Prophet of the Great Smoky
Mountain. (C)
Crockett, Samuel R.:
Cinderella. (A)
The Gray Marc. (A,C)
The Isle of Winds. (C)
The Red Axe. (A)
Strong Mac. (A,C)
Fishers of Men. (A,C)
Crawford, Francis Marion:
Pietro Ghisleri. (C)
A LIST OF LEGAL NOVELS
Sant'Ilario. (CD)
Dr. Cladius. (B)
A Maid of Venice. (A)
Marion Darche. (B,C)
Don Orsino. (C)
Daudet, Alphonse:
Artists' Wives. (C)
Immortal. (A)
Port Tarascon. (A,C)
Dickens, Charles:
Barnaby Rudge. (C)
Bleak House. (A,B)
Christmas Stories. (A,B)
Old Curiosity Shop. (A,B)
Hard Times. (C)
Great Expectations. (B)
Little Dorrit. (C)
Nicholas Nickleby. (D)
Oliver Twist. (A,C)
Our Mutual Friend. (B)
Pickwick Papers. (A,B)
Tale of Two Cities. (A,B)
Dougall,Lily:
Beggars All. (C)
Doyle, Arthur Conan:
Firm of Girdlestone. (C)
Sherlock Holmes, Memoirs
and Adventures. (C)
Micah Clarke. (A)
Dumas, Alexandre:
Black Tulip. (C)
Count of Monte Cristo.
(A,C,D)
The Forty-five Guardsmen,
Part I. (A,C)
Marguerite de Valois. (A,C)
Twenty Years After, Part II.
(A)
Vicomte de Bragelonne, Part
VI. (C)
Chevalier de Maison-Rouge.
(A,C)
Remarkable Crimes. (A,B,C)
Companions of Jehu. (A)
Whites and Blues. (C)
Edwardes,Annie:
Archie Lovell. (A,D)
Eggleston, Edward:
Mystery of Metropolisville.
(A,B,C)
Circuit Rider. (C)
Roxy. (B)
Graysons. (A)
Hoosier Schoolmaster. (A)
Eliot, George:
Adam Bede. (A)
Felix Holt. (A,B,D)
Romola. (C)
Mill on the Floss. (B)
Janet's Repentance. (B)
Erckman, E., and Chatrian,A.:
Polish Jew. (A)
Franzos, Karl Emil:
For the Right. (C,D)
The Chief Justice. (A,B)
Fargus, John Frederick (Hugh
Conway):
Called Back. (C)
Cardinal Sin. (C,D)
Family Affair. (C)
Fawcett, Edgar:
New York Family. (B,C)
Ferrier, Susan E.:
Inheritance. (D)
Fielding,Henry:
Jonathan Wild. (C)
Joseph Andrews. (C)
Amelia. (C)
Tom Jones. (C)
Foote, Mary Hallock:
John Bodewin's Testimony.
(A)
Coeur d'Alene. (C)
Led-Horse Claim. (D)
Ford, Paul Leicester:
Janice Meredith. (D)
Honorable Peter Stirling. (B)
Frederic,Harold:
Seth's Brother's Wife. (C)
Lawton Girl. (B,C)
Damnation of Theron Ware
(B)
In the Market Place. (D)
Return of the O'Mahony. (D)
French,Alice (Octave Thanet)
Missionary Sheriff. (CD)
Rolf and the Viking's Bow.
(A,C,D)
590 0
We All. (B,C,D)
Knitters in the Sun. (D)
His Duty. (C)
Freytog, Gustav:
Debit and Credit. (D)
Gaboriau, Emile:
File No. 113. (C)
Widow Lerogue. (C)
Monsieur Lecocq. (C)
Galt, John:
Ayrshire Legatees. (D)
Garland,Hamlin:
Hesper. (C,D)
Member of the Third House.
(D)
Gaskell, Elizabeth C. S.:
Mary Barton. (A)
Glasgow, Ellen:
The Ancient Law. (C)
Goldsmith, Oliver:
Vicar of Wakefield. (C)
Gould, S. Baring:
Court Royal. (B)
Eve. (C)
Pablo the Priest. (D)
Bladys Stewpenny. (CD)
Broom Squire. (A,B,D)
Cheap Jack Zita. (A)
Domitia. (D)
Noemi. (D)
Perpetua. (A,C,D)
Guaros. (A,C,D)
Grant,Charles:
Stories of Naples and the
Camorra. (C)
Grant,Robert:
Law Breakers. (D)
Under Current. (B)
Unleavened Bread. (B)
Eye for an Eye. (A,BD)
Grey (or Gray), Maxwell:
Last Sentence. (A)
Silence of Dean Maitland.
(A,D)
Haggard, H. Rider:
Mr. Meeson's Will. (A,BD)
She. (A)
Dawn. (A)
Lysbeth. (D)
Jess. (A,D)
Eric Brighteyes. (D)
Col. Quaritch. (B)
Hale, Edward Everett:
Philip Nolan's Friends. (A)
Hardy, Thomas:
Tess of the D'Urbervilles (D)
Desperate Remedies. (CD)
Harris,Richard:
Mr. Bumpkin's Lawsuit. (B)
Harte, Francis Bret:
Gabriel Conroy. (A)
Cressy. (D)
In the Carquinez Woods. (C)
Argonauts of North Liberty.
(C)
Bell-Ringer of Angels. (C)
Story of a Mine. (D5
Snow-Bound at Eagle's. (C)
Openings in the Trail: (B)
Twins of Table Mountain.
(D)
Heiress of Red Dog. (A,B,D)
Great Deadwood Mystery.
(D)
Hawthorne, Nathaniel:
Scarlet Letter. (C)
House of the Seven Gables.
(C,D)
Henty, G. A.:
Through the Fray. (A,C)
Herrick, Robert:
The Common Lot. (A)
Hewlett, Maurice:
The Queen's Quhair. (A)
Holland, Josiah Gilbert:
Bay Path. (A)
Sevenoaks. (A,D)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell:
Guardian Angel. (B,D)
Howells, William Dean:
Modern Instance. (A.D)
Hugo, Victor:
Les Mis6rables. (A,C,D)
Notre Dame. (A)
Ninety-three. (C)
fames, George P. R.:
Convict. (C)
Morley Ernstein. (B,C)
TTTTJnjc "IVA REVIPf
A LIST OF LEGAL NOVELS
Jokai, Maurice:
Pretty Michal. (C)
Kingsley, Henry:
Austin Elliot. (AD)
Kirkman, Marshall M.
The Romance of Gilbert
Holmes. (A)
La Rams Louise de (Ouida):
Under Two Flags. (A)
LeSage, Alain R.:
Gil Blas. (C)
Lever, Charles:
Martins o' Cromartin. (B)
Macdonald, George:
Wilfred Cumbermede. (D)
Maitland, Edward:
The Lawyer's Story (oi, The
Orphan's Wrongs). (BD)
Manzoni, Alessandro:
Bethothed. (C)
Marryat, Frederick:
Poachers. (A)
Jacob Faithful. (D)
Phantom Ship. (C)
Snarleyow. (CD)
Meredith, George:
Ordeal of Richard Peverel.
(B)
Mitchell, S. Weir:
Constance Trescott. (A,B,C)
Morrison, Arthur:
Chronicles of Martin Hewitt.
(C)
Martin Hewitt, Investigator.
(C)
Mulock, Dinah Maria:
Hannah. (D)
Norris,W. E.:
Misadventure. (A)
Oliphant,Margaret W.:
Fugitives. (D)
May. (D)
Marriage of Elinor. (B)
Harry Joscelyn. (D)
Heir Presumptive. (D)
In 'Trust. (D)
Madam. (D)
Sir Robert's Fortune. (D)
Unjust Steward. (D)
O'Reilly, John Boyle:
Moondyne. (C)
Page,Thomas Nelson:
Red Rock. (D)
Parker, Gilbert:
Right- of Way. (A)
Read, Opie:
Len Gansett. (C)
Emmett Bonlore. (AB)
Colossus.- (A)
His Friend Flanders. (A)
Wives ofrthe Prophet. (B)
Tennessee Judge. (B)
Old Ebenezer. (B)
Judge Elbridge. (B)
Jucklins. (A,B)
Old Sim Jucklins. (B)
Starbucks. (A)
Reade, Charles:
Foul Play. (D)
Griffith Gaunt. (A)
Never Too Late to Mend.
(B,C)
Terrible Temptation. (A)
The Evil Genius. (A,D)
Hard Cash. (AB,C)
Russell, Clark:
A Sea Queen. (D)
Romance of a Transport. (A)
The Two Captains. (C)
Scott, Michael:
Tom Cringle's Log. (A)
Scott, Walter:
Anne of Geierstein. (A,C)
Fortunes of Nigel. (CD)
Guy Mannering. (AB,CD)
Heart of Midlothian. (AB,
D)
Two Drovers. (A)
Talisman. (A)
Surgeon's Daughter. (D)
Fair Maid of Perth. (A)
Waverley. (D)
Antiquary. (B,D)
Bride of Lammermoor. (D)
Monastery. (D)
Pirate. (D)
Ivanhoe. (A)
Old Mortality. (C) (D)
- r T rTi7C T AT1l 17 U ThT W
592 Z L.LIV.L/Io L-,'5
Peveril of the Peak. (A)
Quentin Durward. (CD)
Redgauntlet. (B,D)
Rob Roy. (B,C)
St. Ronan's Well. (B,D)
Senkiewicz, Henryk:
Comedy of Errors. (A)
Bartek the Victor. (A)
Without Dogma. (D)
Children of the Soil. (D)
Smollett, Tobias G.:
Roderick Random. (A)
Ferdinand, Count Fathom.
(C,D)
Sir Lancelot Greeves. (A,C,
D)
Humphrey Clinker. (A,C,D)
Stevenson, Robert Louis:
Kidnapped; with its sequel,
David Balfour (or, Catriona).
(B,C)
Weir of Hermiston. (B)
Stimson, Frederick J.:
Residuary Legatee. (D)
King Noanett. (D)
Stockton, Frank R.:
Three Burglars. (C)
Late Mrs. Null. (D)
Mrs. Cliff's Yacht. (D)
Captain Horn. (D)
Sue, Eugene:
Wandering Jew. (C.D)
Thackeray, William Makepeace:
Adventures of Philip. (B)
(C)
Pendennis. (B)
Tolstoi, Leo N.:
Resurrection. (A,B,CD)
The Long Exile. (A)
In Pursuit of Happiness.
(A,D)
Ivan Ilyitch. (A,B)
Tourg~e, Albion W.:
Figs and Thistles. (B)
Black.Ice. (B)
Button's Inn. (D)
With Gauge and Swallow.
(B)
Train, Arthur:
McAllister and his Double.
(C)
Trollope, Anthony:
Orley Farm. (A,B,D)
Duke's Children. (D)
Eye for an Eye. (D)
Cousin Henry. (B,D)
Barchester Towers. (B,D)
American Senator. (D)
Miss Mackenzie. (B,D)
Mr. Maule's Attempt. (A,B,
C,D)
Last Chronicle of Barset.
(B,D)
Dr. Thorne. (D)
Lady Anna. (A,B,D)
Can You Forgive Her. (B)
Kept in the Dark. (D)
John Caldigate. (A,B,D.)
Land Leaguers, (A,D)
Small House at Allington.
(C)
Vicar of Bullhampton. (AC
D)
Turgenief, Ivan S.:
Lear of the Steppes. (A)
On the Eve. (B)
Twain, Mark (Samuel Clem-
ens).
Pudd'nhead Wilson.* (A)
Tom Sawyer. (A)
Joan of Arc. (A)
Warren, Samuel:
Adventures of an Attorney in
Search of Practice. (B)
Ten Thousand a Year. (B)
Weyman, Stanley:
Starvecrow Farm. (A)
Francis Cludde. (A).
Little Wizard. (A)
My Lady Rotha. (A)
Shrewsbury. (A)
New Rector. (B)
A LIST OF LEGAL NOVELS
Chippinge Borough. (B)
Drift of Fate. (D)
Body-Birds of Court. (D)
Castle Inn. (D)
Man in Black. (A)
Woolson, Constance Feniinore:
Anne. (A)
Yonge, Charlotte M.:
Reputed Changeling. (A)
Trial. (A,C)
Unknown to History. (A,C)
Two Sides of a Shield. (A)
Zangwii, Isaac:
The Big Bow Mystery. (A,C)