Crossing borders: Law, Language and Literature

This collection finds its origin in the workshop on the theme "Law and Literature" at the 23d IVR Congress, August 2007, in Cracow (Poland). Given the theme of the congress, "Differences and Similarities between Legal Cultures", much attention was devoted to interdisciplinary developments in law and legal theory. Within these developments, the interrelation of law, language and literature takes a prominent place, now that law and literature meet at the foundational level of language, which they share as their instrument. "Law as literature", then, starts from the claim that developing a feeling for language and literary style benefits any legal professional, and "Law in Literature" is devoted to analyses of literary works with a law-related topic in a broad sense. Scholars from countries as varied as Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom found themselves attracted to these topics. The result is this collection that is in itself also a reflection of the wide range of levels at which contemporary discussions in the filed take place.