Anne Brontë (1820–1849), the youngest of the Brontë sisters, was a novelist and poet whose work delves into the moral and social architectures that shaped Victorian society. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall portrays the tension between autonomy, social conventions, and legal conformity, opening a lens on the ground from which norms arise and desires take form. This seminar draws on Brontë’s novel to explore the manifold ways in which law functions as a mechanism of production and reproduction of moral frames, and in which marriage operates as a moral and material institution, invested with societal authority and intimate resonance.

Commentary by: Ana Daniela Coelho

_{The seminars will take place on Zoom. Participation is free, but advance registration is required. Upon registration, participants will receive Moodle login instructions and credentials to access all materials for the discussion.}

Bio notes

Ian Ward is a Professor of Law at Newcastle Law School, and an internationally recognised expert on the relationship between law, literature and history. His most recent books include The Play of Law in Modern British Theatre (Edinburgh UP, 2021), The Trials of Charles I (Bloomsbury, 2023), and The Reformation of the Constitution: Law, Culture and Conflict in Jacobean England (Hart, 2024). Two further books are due to be published shortly: Law, History, Text: writing ironic legal histories (Routledge, spring 2026), and Law, Literature and the Romans (Hart, 2027). Ian Ward serves as an international expert for AIDEL, the leading European law and literature research network based at the University of Verona, and is an editorial board member for Law and Literature, Law and Humanities and Polemos. Ian Ward is also an international consultant for the research project Lawcus.

Ana Daniela Coelho is an independent scholar with a PhD in adaptation studies, titled "Adapting Jane Austen's Emma: From Literary Text to Digital Afterlife" (University of Lisbon). Besides adaptation and Jane Austen, her research interests include fantasy fiction (literature, film, comics and other media), zombies and other undead fictional creatures, and past/present dichotomies in postmodernity.

The “Law and Books” series is organised by Ana Oliveira and Tiago Ribeiro, and takes place within the scope of the LAWCUS project – reference 2023.12608.PEX, funded by national funds through the Foundation for Science and Technology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.54499/2023.12608.PEX