Through analysis of 5 plays by Shakespeare, Paul Raffield examines what it meant to be a 'stranger' to English law in the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean period. The numbers of strangers increased dramatically in the late sixteenth century, as refugees fled religious persecution in continental Europe and sought sanctuary in Protestant England.In the context of this book, strangers are not only persons ethnically or racially different from their English counterparts, be they immigrants, refugees, or visitors. The term also includes those who transgress or are simply excluded by their status from established legal norms by virtue of their faith, sexuality, or mode of employment.Each chapter investigates a particular category of 'stranger'. Topics include the treatment of actors in late Elizabethan England and the punishment of 'counterfeits' (Measure for Measure); the standing of refugees under English law and the reception of these people by the indigenous population (The Comedy of Errors); the establishment of 'Troynovant' as an international trading centre on the banks of the Thames (Troilus and Cressida); the role of law and the state in determining the rights of citizens and aliens (The Merchant of Venice); and the disenfranchised, estranged position of the citizen in a dysfunctional society and an acephalous realm (King Lear).This is the third sole-authored book by Paul Raffield on the subject of Shakespeare and the Law. The others are Shakespeare's Imaginary Constitution: Late Elizabethan Politics and the Theatre of Law (2010) and The Art of Law in Shakespeare (2017), both published by Hart/Bloomsbury.

Introduction1. Measure for Measure: Actors, Fornicators, and Other Transgressors of LawI. Introduction: 'comon Players of Enterludes'II. School of Abuse: Elizabethan Theatre and the Outlawed ActorIII. Plague and PrejudiceIV. Frauds, Counterfeits, 'and measure still for measure'V. The Imprint of LawVI. Legitimacy and the Image2. The Comedy of Errors: Refugees, Immigrants, and the Revitalisation of LondonI. Immigration and the Imminence of DeathII. Shakespeare and the FrenchIII. Shakespeare, Racial Tension, and the London ApprenticesIV. Xenophobia, Riots, and The Book of Sir Thomas MoreV. Classical Friendship and Christian Community in The Comedy of ErrorsVI. Witchcraft, Sorcery, and the ScotsVII. Classicism (Plautus), Christianity (St Paul), and The Comedy of Errors3. Troilus and Cressida: Greeks, Trojans, Honour, and the MarketI. Law, Literature, and the Hellenic TraditionII. Revels and Renaissance at the Elizabethan Inns of CourtIII. The Earl of Essex, The Iliad, and Fin-de-Siècle English LawIV. Troilus and Cressida and the Lawyers4. The Merchant of Venice and the Strangeness of LawI. Venice, Shakespeare, and the Shifting Sands of Contract LawII. Societas, Consensio, and the Meaning of MercyIII. The Jew and the LawIV. Excursus: 'Dark and Obscure' Allegory and the Xenophobic Dream of Common LawV. Act Five, Harmony, and the Discord of Law5. King Lear, Monarchy, and the Injustice of TragedyI. Justice, Jurisdictions, and the Politics of PowerII. Nature and Natural LawIII. Custom, Kings, and Lex RegiaIV. The English Monarchical RepublicV. Image, Costume, and KingshipAfterword