Game of Norms: Law, Interpretation, and the Realms in Game of Thrones

MTA Law Working Paper No. 2019/3

25 Pages Posted: 25 Apr 2019

See all articles by Zsolt Kortvelyesi

Zsolt Kortvelyesi

Hungarian Academy of Sciences - Institute for Legal Studies, Centre for Social Sciences

Date Written: March 27, 2019

Abstract

In this paper I will use Game of Thrones (the TV series) and its oath of the Night’s Watch to discuss some basic questions related to the nature and functioning of law. This will serve a dual goal: assessing the concept of law used in the series (making the paper part of a long-thriving academic field, law and literature, or law and film), but, more importantly, also to present theoretical questions in a friendly way – something I also tested in introduction to law classes. It is not easy to draw students into discussing questions of the right interpretation or functionalist understandings, but by driving them to a friendly (if deadly) territory, one can engage with them and show how the discussion is intimately related to fundamental dilemmas of legal theory.

Keywords: Game of Thrones, legal theory, law, legal interpretation, law and literature

Suggested Citation

Kortvelyesi, Zsolt, Game of Norms: Law, Interpretation, and the Realms in Game of Thrones (March 27, 2019). MTA Law Working Paper No. 2019/3, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3361191 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3361191

Zsolt Kortvelyesi (Contact Author)

Hungarian Academy of Sciences - Institute for Legal Studies, Centre for Social Sciences ( email )

Orszaghaz u 30.
Budapest, 1015
Hungary

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