ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some basic assumptions that guide legal studies on the one hand and literary studies on the other and that each brings to the meeting place of literature and law. It highlights the differences in outlook and methodology between the two disciplines and the critical and creative tension that arises therefrom. The differences between law as a profession and literature as a profession are apparent to anyone who has ever considered pursuing one or the other. For law and for literature, as for bible studies, diagnostic medicine, statistics and polling, it all comes down to interpretation. Interpretation is one of the things law and literature most deeply share. But substantial differences exist between the ways they go about it. One thing law and literature share is an interest in justice, but once again there are differences. Justice is an extremely complex term with great variations in meaning across etymologies, philosophies, religions, cultures, societies, and politics.
