Billy Budd | Billy Budd and the Law

An essay exploring the legal profession's view of Billy Budd.

In the following essay, Goldstein delves into the legal profession's view of Billy Budd.

It is a story of innocence and evil, of crime and punishment, of rationality and insanity, of motives tainted and pure. In short, material that lawyers thrive on, and since it was published posthumously in 1924, Billy Budd, Sailor has gripped the collective imagination of the bar.

Lately, a cottage industry has grown up in legal circles on the interpretation of Herman Melville's novella. It is taught in courses in jurisprudence, and books and law journal articles delve...

[The entire page is 678 words long]

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