Joseph Chi-Lon Marler
Assistant Officer - Law Library
Law & Literature - The enjoyment of reading beyond the black letter law and what it can teach us
In the pursuit of legal success, it is not enough to simply know the law but to understand the wider context in which it is applied.
While handling materials donated to HKU by The Hon. Andrew Li, the former Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal, I had developed this thought. Sometimes it is hard to imagine but even the most professional of people, in the most professional of disciplines, are just human too and to reflect this the Law doesn’t always have to be substantive and ‘boring’ per se.
It came to my attention that within Andrew Li’s readings were more ‘casual’ books such as the book entitled The law is a ass by Ronald Irving, which is the inspiration for the title of this post. Although some of these titles are more comical than others, there are those that can be a great source of understanding and inspiration. For example, Lord Denning’s Landmarks in the Law which covers many great cases at the intersection of both history and law on topics ranging from high treason, freedom of the press, and murder. This book like many others in this more casual genre lean towards a writing style more akin to storytelling making for a far more interesting read than what most of us in the legal field have to usually endure. Thus, going to show the necessity of this more ‘casual’ genre of reading, even if it is just to make your readings in law a little more fun.
Speaking of fun there is one particular book that comes to mind, Lawyers and other reptiles by Jess Brallier. With a stereotype of seriousness and inflated egos, lawyers can be in need of some necessary comic relief or just to be laughed at once in a while by those around them. Laughable scepticism can be found in this work where it quotes Thomas Jefferson in exclaiming that “It is the trade of lawyers to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour” or more directly how Brallier sarcastically says “a missed opportunity: a busload of lawyers with one empty seat went over a cliff”.
Whether these leisurely readings were more serious or not they were the foundation for my curated collection of casual readings in law entitled Law & Literature. Scouring the bookshelves of the Law Library I found hidden gems in more leisure readings condemned to a life hidden among the hundreds of thousands of other books tucked away from the usual search scope of those doing more substantive legal research at HKU.
With these books in hand, I created a display for them at the front entrance of the HKU Law Library for all to enjoy. Coupling this with the promotion of five key benefits of reading wider legal texts: broadening legal knowledge, cultivating legal ethics and professional responsibility, fostering intellectual curiosity, encouraging interdisciplinary thinking, and inspiring personal and professional growth.
In curating this legal literature collection, the law library saw a 23% increase in total output within the first month of its inception and has continued to be a source of interest and inspiration for those at HKU Law ever since. This success shows a clear demand previously untapped based upon the ability of the library to curate a collection worthy of bringing forward to those at HKU Law.
Numbers don’t always show the full picture, and neither do they create space for dialogue. Therefore, I left a communal notebook to open up discussion for book reviews and suggested readings. Some notes left are a little incomprehensible as you might expect from anything which is left unattended. However, some entries provide great insight and feedback.
Written on 18th April 2024 by an unnamed law student…
Review: The China Model – Daniel Bell.
A nuanced read far from the cookie-cutter analysis of Chinese politics as monolithic.
To conclude, it is important to take note of the importance of wider readings and how in inspiring us they can shape us professionally within the legal field. My hope with this initiative and others to come is that the Law Library can act not just as a place for simply storing books but as a place for intellectual exchange where we all broaden our understanding of the law and the wider context in which it is applied.
If you wish to check out an overview of the collection online please click here.