Quintilian & the Law
The Art of Persuasion in Law & Politics
Edited By Olga Tellegen-Couperus
December 2003
Leuven University Press
ISBN: 90-5867-301-4
332 pages, Illustrated, 6 ¼" x 9 ½"
$65.00 Paper Original
To win or not to win, this is the question in every political debate and in every lawsuit, and the key to success is the art of persuasion. Therefore it is essential for politicians and lawyers to have a perfect command of that art. One may have a natural talent to move an audience, but in order to speak well when the occasion or the subject demands, one has to know the rules of rhetoric. When a politician wants his audience to make a certain decision, he can reach his goal, for instance, by offering two possible decisions - a "good" one and a "bad" one, by repeating his arguments and, above all, by using humor. A lawyer who wants to convince the judge must be able to present the facts of the case in such a manner that the judge not only believes him but also wants to believe him, and he must show that his arguments are not only legally but also morally better than those of his opponent.
Partial Contents include: The concept of authority in the institutio oratoria, Materia and official of rhetorical teaching in Book II of the Institutio oratoria, Quintilain and his use of Roman law, Rhetorical role models for 16th to 18th century lawyers, Emotion in the courtroom: Quintilian's judge - then and now, Moving the judge: a legal commentary on Book VI of Quintilian's Institutio oratoria, The role of dispositio in the construction of meaning: Quintilian's perspective, Status and loci for the modern judge: from voluntas to purpose and beyond, Style and law: how to win a case by means of emphasis, Reasons for reading: Quintilian's advice on the continuing self-education of the adult orator, Classical and modern gesticulation accompanying speech: An early theory of body language, The right of appeal in Quintilian's Institutio oratoria, and Quintilian's jurisprudence.
Law; Politics
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