The Law and Harry Potter

This volume considers the depiction of law and legal institutions in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels. It contains more than twenty chapters by legal academics from the U.S. and abroad. The chapters are organized in five sections: Legal Traditions and Institutions, Crimes and Punishments, Harry Potter and Identity, the Wizard Economy, and Harry Potter as an Archetype. Some chapters analyze the way law and legal institutions are portrayed, and what these portrayals teach us about concepts such as morality, justice, and difference. Other chapters use examples from the narratives to illustrate or analyze legal issues, such as human rights, actual innocence, and legal pedagogy. The volume is suitable for undergraduate or law school courses, and will be of interest to those Harry Potter fans who also have an interest in law and the legal profession.

"It's clear that, no matter what conclusions they drew from J.K. Rowling's work, the essayists had a lot of fun doing their research, and many of the writers playfully draw on a deep knowledge of the Harry Potter series."
—Missouri Lawyers Weekly

"The Law and Harry Potter is an interesting and entertaining collection for any serious fan of Harry Potter. . . . The serious ideas expressed in the book are well‐balanced by a sense of fun, as indicated by the fact that many of the author bios contain tongue‐in‐cheek references to the author's credentials in the Potterverse as well as their real‐world qualifications."
—Mythlore