On The Rule Of Law In Charles Dickens’s Bleak House

Bleak House by Charles Dickens is a legal text with Chancery Court as its focus. It enjoys a significant status in the discipline of law and literature and has aroused the interests of both the literary and legal scholars. Previous criticisms concerning Bleak House are mainly about how the evil of Chancery practice is revealed by Dickens. However, with attention drawn solely to the operation of Chancery Court, the depth of the novel, particularly its legal significance of the rule of law, is not fully explored.This thesis aims to interpret the legal descriptions in Bleak House from the viewpoint of the "rule of law". By checking the guiding principles of the Chancery Court against the "substantial goodness" of the rule of law, its ossification, delay and expensiveness against the "formal goodness" of the rule of law, and by checking major characters’ attitudes toward the law against the "actual obedience" of the rule of law, this thesis intends to shed a different light on Bleak House, regarding the novel as a perfect reflection of the principles of the rule of law, a fine tradition of England.This thesis comprises three parts:Introduction, four chapters and Conclusion.In the Introduction, a brief account of Charles Dickens and his works is given. Dickens is fascinated with law issues and Bleak House is the most typical legal novel of his somewhat dozen legal works. He is extremely popular among scholars active in the law and literature movement. Those scholars, together with the earlier critics, have responded enthusiastically to Bleak House. Yet their focus is mainly on the operation of rules.The Main body is composed of four chapters. The first chapter presents Charles Dickens as a legal historian. Dickens’s personal experience has enabled him to know well the legal industry. Nonetheless, the deficiency of his education has disabled him to explore more deeply into the essence of Chancery law. This feature is shown in the legal text of Bleak House. The novel has unfolded a vivid picture of the rule of law in the19th century England with the various suitors, lawyers as well as the Chancery Court. However, the concern is limited to the Chancery operations, while other features of the Chancery Court are neglected. This provides the author of this thesis with an opportunity in the pursuit of a more complete comprehension of Chancery using the principles of the "rule of law"The second chapter deals with the "rule of law"-the general standard of law. After researching into the theories proposed by scholars from as early as Ancient Greece to modern times, a descriptive definition of the rule of law and a comparatively comprehensive one is given. According to the definition, the rule of law mainly has two parts:one is the law’s own goodness, and the other is people’s actual obedience. The first part can be sub-divided into the substantial and the formal goodness. The substantial goodness refers to the universally applicable values embodied in the law, such as justice, reason, equality, freedom, the general goodness in people, and so on. The formal goodness refers to the legislative and judicial procedures which ensure the achievement of those values mentioned above. With regard to legal rules, generality, promulgation, clarity, feasibility, congruence and constancy are involved, while for the enforcement of law, authority, independence, impartiality and accessibility are concerned. Besides, a general introduction to the rule of law in England is given. It follows that, of all the core elements concerning the substantial goodness of law, Englishmen cherish their individual rights most. As far as the formal goodness of law is concerned, they are careful, yet not timid, about judicial reforms. With regard to actual obedience, they are highly law-abiding.The third chapter checks the values and procedures of Chancery to see whether the Chancery meets the requirements of the goodness of the rule of law. In the substantial aspect, Chancery is qualified since its guiding principles, first conscience and then equity, are coherent with those values of the rule of law and are meant to bring well-being to its objects. While in the formal aspect, though there is a strong hint in the novel that the Chancery fails to reach the standard of relative constancy, it is invalid once a contrast is made between the real world and the fictitious world. The judicial reform which started ahead of the publication of Bleak House defends the flexibility of Chancery rules. The accessibility of the Chancery is impaired by its delay and expensiveness. Generally speaking, there exists both goodness and evilness in the formal aspect of the rule of law in Bleak House.The fourth chapter deals with the actual obedience of the rule of law in the novel. In this section, representatives of diverse stratums are quoted in order to exemplify the authoritative power of Chancery. Among the general public, there is Miss Flite from the lowest class, Grandfather Smallweed standing for the propertied, and the Dedlock family on behalf of the aristocracy. All of them are accustomed to turning to law in problem solving. For the law-givers, both the Lord Chancellor and the solicitors who attend the Chancery Courts frequently, for example, Mr. Tulkinghorn, Mr. Vholes and Mr. Kenge, are cautious not to go beyond the boundary of law when enforcing it. Here an attitude of legality is obvious.In conclusion, Bleak House is far from being a nightmare of the British legal system. Instead, after the introduction of the rule of law and the investigation into both the Chancery’s intrinsic and extrinsic qualities as well as the public response toward these qualities, it can be claimed to have reflected the fine tradition of England to a great extent, namely, the rule of law.