Bardell v. Pickwick

E948365

Bardell v. Pickwick is a famous comic breach-of-promise lawsuit in Charles Dickens’s *The Pickwick Papers*, satirizing Victorian legal proceedings and social conventions.

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Statements (44)

Predicate Object
instanceOf comic legal case
fictional lawsuit
appearsIn The Pickwick Papers NERFINISHED
characterInvolved Mr. Justice Stareleigh NERFINISHED
Mrs. Bardell NERFINISHED
Samuel Pickwick NERFINISHED
Serjeant Buzfuz NERFINISHED
members of the Pickwick Club
consequenceForDefendant imprisonment in the Fleet Prison for nonpayment of damages
counselForPlaintiff Serjeant Buzfuz NERFINISHED
countryOfOrigin United Kingdom
courtType civil court
createdBy Charles Dickens NERFINISHED
defendant Samuel Pickwick NERFINISHED
genre comic fiction
satire
influenced later depictions of comic courtroom scenes
language English
legalIssue breach of promise to marry
legalTheme abuse of legal procedure
jury persuasion
manipulation of evidence
literarySignificance classic example of Dickens’s critique of the English legal system
one of the most famous fictional trials in English literature
narrativeFunction satire of Victorian legal proceedings
satire of Victorian social conventions
notableFeature extravagant courtroom rhetoric by Serjeant Buzfuz
misinterpretation of innocent circumstances as romantic proposal
partOf The Pickwick Papers NERFINISHED
plaintiff Mrs. Bardell NERFINISHED
publicationForm serial publication
relatedConcept Victorian law
breach of promise lawsuit
relatedWork Bleak House NERFINISHED
result damages awarded against Samuel Pickwick
verdict for the plaintiff
settingPeriod early 19th-century England
theme class and respectability
commercialization of personal relationships
fallibility of the legal system
miscommunication
tone humorous
satirical
workFirstPublication The Pickwick Papers NERFINISHED

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

The Pickwick Papers notableEpisode Bardell v. Pickwick