If you love wizards, witches, and Hogwarts, and if you are curious about the law, this book is for you. It explores the intersection of Harry Potter's adventures and the law of our society.
The Wizarding world's creator – J.K. Rowling – appears to have a fascination with all things legal. She wove into her incredibly captivating story many vignettes that implicate the law. If you think about it, you realize the law had to be an essential component of the series because what J.K. Rowling did was to create an entire new society in an alternate universe. For a society to function orderly and for people to live together without chaos, there must be laws and rules for people to follow. Thus, law is a critical component for any civilized society, including ours and Harry's. Law is what differentiates anarchy from order and civility. Law imposes penalties – such as jail or fines – for illegal acts. Law also provides a mechanism to settle disputes among people and protect our rights as individuals.
In the Wizarding world, there is a Ministry of Magic which functions as the government. The Ministry, among other things, establishes and enforces laws through its various departments. This structure in which that government creates and enforces the law is similar to how government functions in the Muggle world. Likewise, many of the laws in Rowling's universe are similar to those in the United States of America. This makes easy the undertaking of this book – to equate laws referenced in the Harry Potter story to the laws that all of us must follow in this country. This book uses the twists and turns in the experiences of our favorite, and some not-so-favorite, characters as case examples to illustrate legal principles.
This book contains 11 modules, 10 of which cover a major category of law and consist of numerous chapters that have a common theme, such as Criminal Law, School Law, Family Law and Constitutional Law. The chapters within the module address a specific area of law. Examples include identity theft, bullying and child neglgect.
The authors' fondest hope is that they have debunked the law for their readers who will come to embrace the discipline for the critical role it plays in our society - protecting our rights, resolving disputes and providing order where chaos would otherwise reign.
