Law and Justice in Song
Murder Ballads and Popular Music
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Publishing:16th Feb '26
£145.00
This title is due to be published on 16th February, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This book examines the murder ballad form, songs about death and killing, from a legal history perspective. It is held that taking on the long history of the murder ballad is a way that we can understand how death and killing in song has a function in dealing with the world around us. The book integrates law and humanities scholarship with diverse musical case studies to construct a typology of murder ballads and thus conceptualise the central messages of how murder ballads have treated death and killing. Drawing on a cultural form in which assessment and consideration of death and killing are so vigorously and richly enacted gives lawyers a guide to how those who do not see these matters through a primarily legal lens might understand this part of their world. The study will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the areas of Criminal Law, Legal History, Socio-Legal Studies, Criminology and Musicology.
'This engaging and authoritative book presents a comprehensive analysis of how the musical genre of murder ballads have essential themes and messages for the understanding of law and justice. This innovative text pushes at disciplinary boundaries to illustrate how music has much to tell us about fairness, injustice, inequalities and resistance. This is a must read for anyone interested in the law, culture and justice.'
Eleanor Peters, Edge Hill University, UK
'‘Law’ and ‘justice’ are rarely associated with music, unless ‘the law’ uses ‘justice’ to criminalise music-making. Daniel Newman goes a step further, inviting us to think about law and justice through popular music—not just a topic to be studied, but as an instrument for understanding law, violence and society.
Lambros Fatsis, City St George's, University of London, UK
'There is nothing more human than music and nothing more legal than death. In this comprehensive and deeply engaging book, Newman charts how the murder ballad is at the foundational nexus of culture and law; how the best and worst of humanity is entwined in our entertainment, our politics and our identities.'
Kieran Tranter, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
ISBN: 9781032964836
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
346 pages