J.R.R. Tolkien Goes to Law School

Abstract

This Article offers J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic stories, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, as useful for Law and Literature scholarship because they have a large audience of all ages, who have either read them in books or seen them as movies. Their widespread popularity makes these stories an effective way to introduce and inspire many to the property law jurisprudence that permeates the texts. While Tolkien’s literature has not been traditionally utilized for Law and Literature purposes, there are several issues of property law jurisprudence that can be elucidated through Tolkien’s writings. This Article begins by briefly assessing the debate regarding the efficacy of Law and Literature, proposes Tolkien’s literature as a legitimate means of stimulating an interest in property law jurisprudence, and concludes by exploring a variety of property law issues using Tolkien’s literature as the background material facts.