Law and Literature

An Interdisciplinary Exploration of Medieval Texts

Edited by Ignazio Alessi Edited by Gavino Scala

Book cover: Law and Literature

Extent: 243 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Law, Medieval Studies

Series: Interdisciplinary Studies in Medieval Legal Sources

Series volume number: 1

Language: English, French

Paperback (Forthcoming)

(April 2026)

ISBN: 9782503620343

Price: $100.00

An interdisciplinary collection of original essays by both new and established scholars that surveys the complex relationship between law and literature in the Middles Ages.


Throughout history, law and literature have always been in constant dialogue, sharing significant connections and exerting mutual influences. Both are artificial creations, products of human imagination that use language and metaphors to build meanings and shape the world around us. In the Middle Ages, the proximity of these two genres is even more pronounced. This is not only because many literary figures were also jurists, but also because medieval legal texts can be classified as a distinct literary genre known as ‘legal literature’. Additionally, medieval jurists did not hesitate to draw upon literary texts, understood as genuine sources of law (‘auctoritates morales’), to fill gaps in their legal knowledge. The contributions collected in this volume examine precisely this intersection between law and literature in medieval literary and legal texts. The volume follows four axes: law in literature, law as literature, literature in law, and literature as Law. The volume aims to raise awareness of the proximity of two apparently distant worlds and to provide a perspective for interdisciplinary analysis that transcends traditional rigid barriers.

  • Edited by Ignazio Alessi
  • Edited by Gavino Scala