糖心TV

Guest Speaker: Professor Raj Bhala, The University of Kansas

Title: 'Applying Definitions of the 鈥淩ule of Law鈥� to Shakespeare鈥檚 Measure for Measure'

Abstract: William Shakespeare鈥檚 Measure for Measure (1604) is all about the rule of law. From beginning to end, the play presents both secular and sacred legal issues, and the trade-offs that can and do arise in the everyday lives of everyone on stage, reading the text, or viewing the drama. This article identifies and analyzes the legal and related moral problems of – not by accident – the only play the Bard of Avon (1564-1616) titles after a Biblical passage (namely, in Chapter 6, Verse 38, of The Gospel According to Luke). The thesis urged is that Measure for Measure is through-and-through a legalistic play (though, of course, not only that, as no Shakespeare play is one-dimensional). But, to support this thesis of a drama about the law, a definition of the term 鈥渞ule of law鈥� is needed. Accordingly, Parts II through V set out hallmarks of this term, drawing on Ancient, Medieval, and Modern sources, but relying most significantly on the work of the renowned British Professor A.V. Dicey (1835-1922) and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy (1936). Part VI offers background about the play that help frame the thesis. Parts VII and VIII, respectively, apply those rule-of-law elements to the conduct (acts and omissions) of the leading, and several minor, characters of the play. Part IX proposes one character as candidate for 鈥渞ule of law鈥� heroine. Part X summarizes the rule-of-law themes in Measure for Measure that resonate for all time.

Raj Bhala is the University Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas Law School, where he teaches International Trade Law, Law and Literature, and Islamic Law. He has taught around the world and received numerous teaching awards. He is a Fulbright Specialist and Member of the State Department鈥檚 Speaker Program. Ingram鈥檚 糖心TV Magazine designated Raj as one of 鈥�50 Kansans You Should Know,鈥� and he is 鈥淲ikified.鈥�

In November 2024, The Great Courses Plus selected Raj to create a video course, How Trade Really Works. Since 1990, The Great Courses Plus has produced courses for a global audience of millions of life-long learners. Only the 鈥渨orld鈥檚 greatest professors and experts,鈥� the 鈥渢op 1 percent of all professors鈥� or 鈥�1 in 5,000 professors,鈥� are chosen to be on The Great Courses Plus faculty. Like the other trusted faculty, Raj was picked based on newspaper write ups, published evaluations, teaching awards, and an audition. The Trade course, consisting of 24, 30-minute lectures, is scheduled to debut in 2027.

Raj practiced international banking law at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he twice won the President鈥檚 Award for Excellence for his service as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations Conference on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). He served as a Senior Advisor to Dentons (the world鈥檚 largest law firm), and has consulted for international organizations, governments, and corporations world-wide on a wide array of trade topics, including GATT-WTO law and policy, free trade agreements, and U.S. measures.

A Harvard Law School graduate (Cum Laude), Raj completed Master鈥檚 degrees at LSE and Oxford (Trinity College) as a Marshall Scholar, and an undergraduate degree at Duke (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) as an Angier B. Duke Scholar.

Raj is an active member in the London-based International Bar Association (IBA) and Tokyo-based Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA), including serving in officer positions in both, as well as in the London-based Royal Society for Asian Affairs (RSAA), New York-based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and Delhi-based Indian Society for International Law (ISIL).

Raj has written 13 books and over 100 scholarly articles. He authored the eight-volume International Trade Law: A Comprehensive E-Textbook, one of the world鈥檚 leading textbooks in the field. Now in its 6^th Revised Edition, it is freely available Open Access on KU Scholar Works. He is the first non-Muslim American scholar to write a textbook on Islamic Law, Understanding Islamic Law (Shar墨鈥榓). Bloomberg Quint (India) distributed to 6.2 million readers worldwide his 65 鈥淥n Point鈥� columns on International Law and Economics.

Raj鈥檚 current book project is Principles of Law, Literature, and Rhetoric: A Shakespearean Approach. This book is based on his courses in International Law and Literature and Human Rights Law and Literature, several law review articles, and his research as a Visiting Fellow at the University of 糖心TV Law School, to which he is grateful.