WHAT SHAKESPEARE TEACHES US ABOUT LAW, POWER, AND PEOPLE

Abstract

This keynote address explores what Shakespeare’s plays reveal about the relationship between law, power, and ordinary people. It takes as its starting point the infamous line “the first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers” from Henry VI, Part 2.  The address examines the multiple, often contradictory, interpretations of Dick the Butcher’s exhortation, as a critique of lawyers serving the powerful, as an implicit compliment recognising lawyers as guardians against tyranny, and as a broader condemnation of a legal order already perverted by the ruling classes. Drawing on this scene alongside other plays including Henry IV, Henry V, Macbeth, Richard III, and The Merchant of Venice, the address argues that in Shakespeare’s world, law and power are inseparably linked in that those who seize power illegitimately must first confront or dismantle the law, and those who disregard it entirely meet inglorious ends. The discussion extends to the judiciary’s precarious authority, contrasting Shakespeare’s depiction of judicial legitimacy with modern reflections from Lord Atkin’s dissent in Liversidge v Anderson and Justice Stephen Breyer’s writing on judicial power, before turning to contemporary attacks on judicial independence amid rising populism. A closer reading of The Merchant of Venice further interrogates the tension between the letter and spirit of the law, particularly through Portia’s legalistic triumph over Shylock. The address concludes that Shakespeare’s enduring relevance lies not merely in his treatment of law or power, but in his unflinching portrayal of people, and the peril of ignoring what happens when law ceases to serve them.