At the age of seventeen, Joyce attended a trial that would decisively shape his perspective on law and justice.
An Alleged Fratricide
The defendant, Samuel Childs, was accused of having brutally murdered his brother Thomas, on the night of November 2, 1899. As the principal heir, he stood to gain access to much of his brother’s fortune. The case was discussed in all the Dublin newspapers, and based on this reporting the public was convinced that Samuel Childs would be found guilty.
However, during a three-day trial, it became clear that the police and the prosecution had conducted a flawed investigation and drawn a range of premature conclusions. Ultimately, the court acquitted Samuel Childs in full.
Three Facets of the Law in Ulysses
No other court case is mentioned more frequently in Ulysses than this supposed fratricide. One of the reasons is that fraternal feuds were a motif that had long been a concern for Joyce. (In Ulysses, the topic is also represented by frequent references to Shakespeare’s Hamlet: a play in which Claudius kills his brother, King Hamlet, and marries his widow, Gertrude.)
A second reason for Joyce’s fascination was that certain court cases become a general topic of conversation and thus allow observers to draw conclusions about widely held beliefs and societal conflicts. By showing that, more than five years after its conclusion, the Childs murder case continued to resonate with many Dubliners, Joyce provides us with some insight into the psychosocial condition of “common” people.
Thirdly, the Childs murder case had taught Joyce that premature certainties often lead to injustice. For as long as everyone had looked at the case exclusively from the perspective of the prosecution, it seemed irrefutable that Samuel Childs was guilty. However, once further points of view were considered, it became clear that the first, seemingly unassailable perspective was entirely insufficient. Joyce’s Ulysses encourages us to view events from different angles and to approach the truth cautiously and polyphonically; the very form and style of the novel may serve as a lesson on the virtues of doubt.
Table of Contents
- James Joyce, Ulysses, and the Law: An Introduction
- Obscenity and Literature: Legal Context around 1915
- James, Nora, and the “Konkubinatsverbot”
- Adultery as a Crime of Property
- Doubt as a Virtue
- Joyce Files a Lawsuit in Zurich
- Dying Without a Safety Net
- Ulysses Outlawed in the U.S.
- A Victory for Free Speech
- Suicide as a Crime
- A Difficult Return: Stricter Migration Laws
- A Defamation Case Against the BBC
Source: Hardiman, Adrian. Joyce in Court: James Joyce and the Law. 2017. Paperback ed., Apollo Books/Head of Zeus, 2018, pp. 127–162.
