Academics always come up with crackpot theories and apply them to fictional worlds. Apparently, this is a way to get published and taken seriously, though only in the ivy tower circles. Reading their views was always a source of humor for me in college, though I greatly preferred to read the actual "texts" themselves, even though they were criticized at the time for being "phallocentric," and "hegemonic." The labels change but the idiocy never does.

Between this and the "Beowulf vs. Lord of the Rings" article, I'm struck by how the majority of posters with dismissive or sneery opinions are hiding behind the "anonymous" label. Coincidence?

For those who think this subject is funny or ridiculous, in an academic sense you may be right. But there is a sense in which it is not ridiculous at all. A book on Harry Potter law make look nonsensical to adults already engaged in their careers, etc., but keep in mind that, it being a book about Harry Potter, a hell of a lot of young folks will be reading it. This book is going to introduce them to the concepts of law, and to the language that is used in it creation and analysis. It's going to prepare them for the world of real law in a way that they will find relevant to their own interests. They'll learn to think about the law and legal matters in a serious way that connect with their already established inner lives. This is funny?

Having grown up with the experience of an inner life at least partially directed and instructed by an author's milieu, I can assure you that there isn't anything particularly ridiculous about the way that a book can influence a young person's expectations, goals and abilities. While some people might think this kind of book is silly, I look at it and think, "Good. Maybe this will influence kids to become interested in law, or to re-examine the ethical problems of our own legal system."

There can never be too many books with a potential to interest kids in the workings of their own real world by connecting it to the worlds of their imaginations. I'd certainly rather see them involved with wrestling the concepts in a book like this than any of the myriad brain-destroying gadgets that surround them these days.

Oh, and I guess adults will enjoy the book too.

How is it possible that such an article was written, concieved or or passed by an editor?

Quickly! Beowulf - the movie and LOTR deserved the same brilliant work applied to them as well.

This asylum only has inmates.

"Bewitched - Feminism, Madison Avenue and the rewritting of gender roles in the context of the cultural revolution of the sixties and the post-modern role or women in the post nuclear family."

Don't dis my disertation, bro.

How is it possible that such an article was written, concieved or or passed by an editor?

Quickly! Beowulf - the movie and LOTR deserved the same brilliant work applied to them as well.

This asylum only has inmates.

"Bewitched - Feminism, Madison Avenue and the rewritting of gender roles in the context of the cultural revolution of the sixties and the post-modern role or women in the post nuclear family."

Don't dis my disertation, bro.

I should have been a professor because if I had that kind of time, I have always wanted to write the same sort of paper on the rule of law issues in THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, oh and also one on the links between the movie BABE and the Jackie Robinson story. Ah, to be a professor....

Worth mentioning, perhaps, is that the Ministry of Magic has basically suspended the rule of law in reaction to the threat they face, at least by the end of Goblet of Fire. It doesn't take more than a superficial reading to suggest that there might be parallels between the way laws are treated by the Ministry of Magic and the way laws have been treated by certain real-world governments in the last few years.

before this Harry Potter thing blows over?

I looked at the first 100 pages or so of the first book, but wasn't hooked. I feel like I've been hearing about how great these books are forever. Already.

I admit, though--the legal system in America seems to have fallen victim to numerous "curses" over the past 20 years. It would be terrific to start kids thinking about concepts of law, righteousness, morality at an early age. But we don't HAVE any such concepts to properly indoctrinate them with.

The reality presented in America is as plastic as Silly Putty, and a wizard like Giuliani can change "torture" into "intensive interrogation" with the invocation of magic words. The wizards in their high White Castle have forged a democracy in Iraq, grown a strong economy, and raised a shield of invincibility against terr'ists over all America.

Surely there must be some way to break the enchantment affecting our collective unconsciousness!

Didn't Saruman know his magic would result in the destruction of Middle Earth?

Doesn't Giuliani realize that fighting dirty (domestically and internationally) results in our losing anything worth defending?

Without freedom, human rights, and honor as core values, the USA is just another country with some deranged executive at the helm.

Waterboard a Death-Eater Today!