Charles Dickens and the Law [1910]

“I have barely tapped the legal mine of interest in Dickens. I have but glanced at some of the more outstanding aspects of the subject, and the more outstanding personalities. (…) Some of Dickens’ lawyers are eccentric and some commonplace; some are dry-as-dust, some very human; no two of them are alike, and each is typical of a class to be found in the legal profession in the present day, just as in the time of Dickens. That, by his writings, Dickens drew public attention to some of the cruel features of the law as it existed in his day, especially as regards imprisonment for debt, and that his writings were a powerful factor in removing or softening hard features of the judicial system, there is no doubt. But there are anomalies and evils denounced in his books still unremedied. There is yet a wide field open to the Dickens student, in the judicial aspect of Dickens’ works, and my aim has been accomplished if I have been able, in some degree, to flash a little light upon this undeveloped mine of interest, and in some small measure to create, as regards the attitude of Charles Dickens to the law, a desire on the part of others to inquire further into a subject so teeming with interest” (78-79).