Like any long project this one has incurred many obligations. Its proximate cause was David Funk’s Sociology of Law seminar. I have benefitted from Purdue University’s microfilm collection of Early English Books and the Commonwealth Collection of early English case law in the library of the Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis. My former colleague Seth Weiner first connected Shakespeare with fraudulent conveyancing. The resulting article, a version of this book’s chapter on The Merry Wives of Windsor, appeared in Renaissance Drama 25 (1994): 145–169, edited by Francis E. Dolan. Patricia Parker encouraged my work by citing that article in her book Shakespeare from the Margins (Chicago, 1996). I want to thank Paula von Loewenfeldt for chevisance. CoryAnne Harrigan has been a constant and much-appreciated corrector. Paul Kahn played the role of interlocutor during a moment of crisis. David Papke gave me copies of his books. Allen Mandelbaum, as usual, read and encouraged. David Rosenthal, our local Chapter 11 Trustee, said he would read a book without footnotes; I give him this preface. Colleagues and students including Paul White, Ann Astell, Tom Adler, Vicki Scala, David Wood, Mardy Phillipian, Erica Rude, and Tara Pedersen have kept the Renaissance alive at Purdue. Michelle Parkinson brought Foucault to my attention at the right time. Mihoko Suzuki introduced me to Erika Gaffney, our editor at Ashgate, whose professionalism has been a refreshing surprise. I would also like to thank Angelica Duran, Constance Jordan, Thomas Kuehn, Dan Lowenstein, Michael Murrin, David Nirenberg, James Nohrnberg, Terry Reilly, John Watkins, Luke Wilson, and two anonymous readers. Portions of this study were presented at the Center for Humanistic Studies in the School of Liberal Arts and the Romance and Epic seminar at the Newberry Library.
Some debts can never be repaid, of course, and so this book is for Slaney, who wondered why I never left the house during her high school years; for Sam, a true artist; and, as always, for Clare.