Law & Humanities Blog

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The Book As Sign Posted: 01 Aug 2013 11:02 AM PDT Paul D. Callister, University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Law, has published The Book as Authoritative Sign in Seventeenth-Century England: A Review Through the Lens of Holistic Media Theory in Law, Culture, and Visual Studies (Anne Wagner & Richard K. Sherwin eds.; Springer, 2014 (forthcoming)). Here is the abstract. Seventeenth-century England is primarily a textual era for legal authority, but the book also has the capacity to act as sign, and in a few notable instances it does so, providing authority to check both royal prerogative and parliamentary power during the Interregnum. Although its precise meaning is debated, royal prerogative includes the right of the monarch to act as a higher court than common law courts, and may encompass the right to legislate. It was the central issue in the seventeenth-century power struggle between English courts, parliament and the monarchy. The image of the book has always appeared amongst icons signifying sovereign authority. However, in seventeenth-century England, the printed law book came to represent a check on government power, especially absolute monarchy and royal prerogative over the interpretation and application of law. To be properly studied within semiotics, signs must be understood holistically, using tools from a variety of disciplines.