Alice's adventures in the legal system

Lewis Carroll’s beloved character Alice Liddell: unruly trespasser or innocent passer-by?

On March 5, the Schulich School of Law put Alice on trial for its fifth annual Weldon Literary Moot. The event sees local actors and Dal law students and faculty perform a mock trial based on a famous piece of literature. Past moots have been based on such works as Frankenstein, The Odyssey and Pride and Prejudice.

The occasion for the festivities: an opportunity to raise funds for Halifax Humanities 101, an organization which aims to make the world of university humanities accessible to everyone, regardless of the barriers (financial, social or otherwise) they might face. As of this June, the society will have had over 100 students graduate from its program, which offers free classes twice a week taught by university professors.

This year’s fundraiser focused on Lewis Carroll’s children’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The plaintiff bringing charges against Alice for trespassing: the Queen of Hearts herself.

Protraying the Queen was Dalhousie Professor of Law Diana Ginn. Other cast members included King's prof Laura Penny as Alice, Dal Law prof Jonathan Shapiro as the White Rabbit, university lawyer Bob Mann as the Cheshire Cat and local actors Bill Wood and Sean Skerry as the Mad Hatter and March Hare respectively.

Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Jamie Campbell served as the judge for the evening. Joining Mann's Cheshire Cat on the trial's legal teams were Agathon Fric (third-year Law student) and Laurie Jones (McInnes Cooper) for the plaintiff and Lindy Harrington (also a third-year Law student) for the defendant.

George Cooper, president of the University of King’s College (which hosted the proceedings), opened the evening with a quote from Carroll’s novel:

"But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh you can’t help that," said the Cheshire cat. "We’re all mad here. I’m mad, you’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad," said Alice.
"Well you must be or you wouldn’t have come here”

And so the madness ensued.

The evening was an absolute cacophony of splendid characters, contemporary topical references and near-constant laughter. A spirit of irreverence — in line with the novel, in many respects — dominated. You had the crown arguing that, “You don’t take the road to the Queen’s garden without her permission because when you do it’s called trespassing and the terrorists win.” And you had the March Hard, responding to a question, asking, “The course has a record? Is it a collection of records or just one Madonna record?” To which the defence replied: “We listen to funk.”

Ages of those in the audience ranged from, at my estimation, about 10 to about 80, with each finding laughs throughout the engaging performance.

While a final fundraising total was not available at press time, the event's student organizers estimate that upwards of $4,000 was raised for Halifax Humanities 101.

"At the Schulich School of Law we are encouraged to give back to our community, and this moot is one creative way for us to do that," says student Amelia Cooke. "Our main hope for this event is that it provides some much needed financial support to HH101. I also hope that the people who attend truly enjoy their experience. It's wonderful to watch famous literary characters being put on trial."