Men of Law.
- Author/Editor
- Musson, Andrew.
- Title
- Men of Law.
- Published
- Musson, Anthony. "Men of Law." In Historians on John Gower. Ed. Stephen H. Rigby, with Siân Echard (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2019), pp. 213-39.
- Review
- Musson describes the "legal profession" in Gower's lifetime, including the growth of various courts and proceedings. He explains the ambiguities and ranges of application of the labels "men of law," "gents de ley," "sergeant of the law," etc., and reviews evidence of Gower's purported legal training (including the sartorial evidence of the "striped sleeve"--"raye mance"--mentioned in MO 21772–5), concluding that there is "no unequivocal evidence which definitively confirms his status as a lawyer" (226) and that the "contention that he was a Chancery lawyer remains extremely conjectural" (229). Nevertheless, Gower's works display "familiarity with legal terminology and aspects of substantive law" (226), Musson explains, offering several examples of nuanced legal terminology missed by translators or critics of Gower's poetry. Further, Musson observes that Gower's knowledge at times extends beyond common law to canon law and Roman civic law, and, more importantly, that "his poetry engages in detail with issues relating to the conduct and role of men of law in the contemporary administration of justice" (229). Gower criticized legal rhetoric, obfuscatory language, and abuses of judicial power. In particular, Musson argues, Gower castigates the opportunistic "social climbing of men of law," made possible because of the rising "consumer demand for lawyers" and "new opportunities to purchase land" in the wake of outbreaks of the plague (237). Yet Gower "offered no practical reforms," Musson says, "other than a tax on lawyers' profits," relying essentially on the "personal integrity of men of law" (238). [MA. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 39.1]
- Date
- 2019
- Gower Subjects
- Backgrounds and General Criticism
Biography of Gower
Language and Word Studies