De rechterlijke macht in de Nederlandse literatuur

The judiciary in Dutch literature Building on the idea, proposed by John Wigmore and elaborated upon in the Law and Literature movement in legal theory, that literary works can offer us a mirror of society, this chapter analyses the literary representation of magistrates in Dutch literature from 1811 onward. It starts with an introduction on the Law and Literature movement to offer a framework for the analyses. This introduction is followed by a short comparison of the situation in the United States and the Netherlands in the formative era of both countries (i.e. the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century) on the premise that given the numerous similarities as far as the role of lawyers is concerned, it is interesting to investigate whether these similarities also result in comparable similarities with respect to the bond between law and literature. Against this background, first, Dutch literature of the nineteenth century is discussed, with Bilderdijk, Cremers and Multatuli as the main subjects. Secondly, twentieth-century literary works, varying from François Pauwels’ early-twentieth-century critical short stories to Christine Otten’s 2010 novel In Wonderland, are investigated for the way in which a trial judge, an examining magistrate or a public prosecutor is portrayed. Thus a mirror of and for magistrates is held up to the reader and connected to various legal issues, and the values and ideals cherished by the legal profession.