The compass and the plumb: poetics of space and literary metaphor in law and literature

This article organizes the relations between Law and Literature in two aspects: it inquires about the legal aspect in the architectonic area and analyzes the architectural area in the legal aspect. For the first one, it recovers historical antecedents of the evolution that would lead to the current configuration of judicial buildings, highlighting a process of transformation that goes from the existence of constructions for multiple purpose (Roman Basilicae, English Taverns, American and Swedish Townhouses) to a specific and exclusive functionality (Courthouses, Palais de Justice). The turning point lies in the increase of the economic importance of the processes, in the solemnity of the procedural rite and in the current increase of the professional prestige of the lawyer. The text also underlines the architectural innovation of the Courts, supported in an architecture of punishment. The new judicial buildings rest on old prisons. There are suggestive literary references and art history. The layout and decoration of the interiors are also examined in relation to procedural safeguards, the right of defense and publicity. The second trajectory presents the architectural metaphors used in the state legal philosophy, in the theory of law, in constitutional law and in the theory of argumentation.