Property Law in Great Literature

Ilya Somin of George Mason University has based part of his property law exam on the facts of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice.  Says Ilya, "property law is probably second only to criminal law as a legal influence on great literature."

So far as English literature goes, Ilya's point seems indisputable.  Property law looms large in the work of almost every major 19th century English author - to name just a few that spring to mind:  Hardy, Elliot, Bronte (Charlotte, I don't know about Emily), Thackeray and (above all) Dickens. 

I'm not so sure if the same can be said about authors who didn't write in English.  For example, I don't recall any particularly significant role that property law played in the great 19th century Russian works of, say, Tolstoy (perhaps Resurrection?), Dostoevsky or Turgenev.  The law plays a role in all their works (particularly Dostoevksy) but it's almost always criminal law. 

Assuming my recollection is accurate (and I would happily stand corrected), I suppose that this is explicable by reference to the social upheaval in Russian society in the latter half of the 19th century.  But one would think that property law would have been implicated, especially by some of the nihilist movements that Turgenev described.

Comments

[Gareth Morley]

By coincidence, I was just reading The Eternal Husband. The main character, Velchaninov, is perenially engaged in estates litigation. He is constantly hounding his lawyer, who finds him a pest, but when the lawyer negotiates a great settlement, Velchaninov is totally disegnaged. We've all had clients like that.

Myshinsky in The Idiot also has a long-running estate battle. I suspect if I knew Dostoevsky better there would be more examples. Admittedly, Dostoevsky is never interested in what the litigation is about.

[Jacob]

I think Chekhov wrote some stories concerning property law... The Bear comes to mind.

[Russ Brown]

Yes, I forgot that about Myshkin. And Jacob's right of course about Chekhov - i.e. "The Cherry Orchard". I haven't read The Eternal Husband (or any of Dostoevsky's shorter pieces).

By the way, for a more recent novel (although set in the 19th century) that features property law front-and-centre (complete with the short chapter instalment format and intertwining narratives of Dickens, very similar to Bleak House), I recommend Charles Palliser's "The Quincunx".

[Gareth Morley]

"The Idiot" makes a point that all civil lawyers should be aware of: ADR, vodka and nihilism are not a good mix.

[Gambia property sale]

Investment in Africa

[Gambia property sale]

Investment in Africa