“Avenging the Nation”. Freedom of the Press and Constitutional Deliverance in Trollope’s Palliser Novels
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Matteo Nicolini
Matteo Nicolini, PhD, is Associate Professor of Comparative Public Law at the Department of Law of the University of Verona (Italy), where he teaches Comparative Constitutional Traditions and Global Comparative Law. He is also Visiting Lecturer at the Newcastle University Law School (UK), and External Partner of the Centre for the Study of Law in Theory and Practice (LTAP) at Liverpool John Moores University (UK). He is co-editor of the
Revista General de Derecho Público Comparado , member of the editorial board ofThe Liverpool Law Review , and book reviews editor ofLaw & Humanities. He has held teaching and visiting appointments at the Universities of Stellenbosch, Salamanca, Barcelona, Valladolid, Tübingen, Lille, UNED (Madrid), Alberto Hurtado (Chile), Universidad de las Américas (Ecuador), and Innsbruck. His fields of research include comparative methodology, European constitutional law, federal studies, judicial review of legislation, law and literature, African law, legal geography, and legal linguistics. He is author and editor of several works written in Italian, Spanish, and English.
Abstract
This essay examines the notion of constitutional deliverance within the Victorian settlement. The expression points to the way constitutional arrangements react to threats that may disrupt the politico-legal order. Rooted in constitutional morality, it entails executing justice, restoring order, and protecting individuals’ rights and freedoms. To this end, it analyses Phineas Finn, Phineas Redux, and The Prime Minister, i.e. three of the six Anthony Trollope’s Palliser Novels, and explores whether the freedom of the press executed constitutional deliverance in the Victorian era. The essay will focus on Mr Quintus Slide, the editor of the People’s Banner, whose acts of moralisation seem to fit into the (political and biblical) notion of deliverance. The article argues that Slide used the press not to deliver the Nation, but to avenge his own interests. In so doing, he contradicted the idea of constitutional deliverance as embedded in Parliament, where the anointed Monarch summons His body politic to execute justice and protect it.
About the author
Matteo Nicolini, PhD, is Associate Professor of Comparative Public Law at the Department of Law of the University of Verona (Italy), where he teaches Comparative Constitutional Traditions and Global Comparative Law. He is also Visiting Lecturer at the Newcastle University Law School (UK), and External Partner of the Centre for the Study of Law in Theory and Practice (LTAP) at Liverpool John Moores University (UK). He is co-editor of the Revista General de Derecho Público Comparado, member of the editorial board of The Liverpool Law Review, and book reviews editor of Law & Humanities. He has held teaching and visiting appointments at the Universities of Stellenbosch, Salamanca, Barcelona, Valladolid, Tübingen, Lille, UNED (Madrid), Alberto Hurtado (Chile), Universidad de las Américas (Ecuador), and Innsbruck. His fields of research include comparative methodology, European constitutional law, federal studies, judicial review of legislation, law and literature, African law, legal geography, and legal linguistics. He is author and editor of several works written in Italian, Spanish, and English.
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- FOCUS: Revenge and the Law
- Focus
- The Paradoxes of Sin: Vengeance as Death Drive in Janet Lewis’s The Wife of Martin Guerre
- The Theatre of Revenge: The Intrusion of Hamlet’s Shadow Between Drama and History
- “Avenging the Nation”. Freedom of the Press and Constitutional Deliverance in Trollope’s Palliser Novels
- Loyal to Whom? Friends, Spies, Revenge, and Our Man in Havana
- Can You Think About Justice? Between Law Enforcement and Revenge, Detective’s Dilemmas in Noir Novel
- Between Anger and Revenge: The Unpoetic Justice of “Counterparts”
- Hamlet and Pure Object Revenge – The Matter of Life and Death
- Research
- Resting her Case: “MeToo à la française” – Springora and Others
- Narratives of Justice: Legal Meaning, Literary Genres and Politics
- The Shadows of Sovereignty: A Visual Genealogy of Dark Knight Archetypes
- Book Review
- Paul Raffield: Shakespeare’s Strangers and English Law
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- FOCUS: Revenge and the Law
- Focus
- The Paradoxes of Sin: Vengeance as Death Drive in Janet Lewis’s The Wife of Martin Guerre
- The Theatre of Revenge: The Intrusion of Hamlet’s Shadow Between Drama and History
- “Avenging the Nation”. Freedom of the Press and Constitutional Deliverance in Trollope’s Palliser Novels
- Loyal to Whom? Friends, Spies, Revenge, and Our Man in Havana
- Can You Think About Justice? Between Law Enforcement and Revenge, Detective’s Dilemmas in Noir Novel
- Between Anger and Revenge: The Unpoetic Justice of “Counterparts”
- Hamlet and Pure Object Revenge – The Matter of Life and Death
- Research
- Resting her Case: “MeToo à la française” – Springora and Others
- Narratives of Justice: Legal Meaning, Literary Genres and Politics
- The Shadows of Sovereignty: A Visual Genealogy of Dark Knight Archetypes
- Book Review
- Paul Raffield: Shakespeare’s Strangers and English Law
