Foreword
In the legal world at large – and in the field of Law and Literature in particular – the name François Ost is synonymous with excellence, originality, and the highest intellectual prestige. He is the author of an immense and remarkable body of scholarly work, so vast that any attempt to catalogue his achievements would only understate their true magnitude.
This is one of the reasons why writing the prologue to the English translation of a selection of his celebrated legal tales – published by Brill in the International Studies in Law and Literature series, of whose Editorial Board Professor Ost is a distinguished member – is, for me, a true honour. Yet this task is also a genuine pleasure, as my academic relationship and collaboration with Professor Ost extend far beyond this series and date back many years.
I first came into contact with him in 1991, during a six-month research stay as a grant-funded fellow at the Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis in Brussels, under his supervision. That stay resulted in a monograph on the validity of law (published by Civitas), which he graciously prefaced with a beautiful introduction – something for which I shall always remain grateful. Some years later, over the course of two consecutive academic years, he invited me to deliver a seminar as guest speaker at the prestigious Académie Européenne de Théorie du Droit (Brussels), which he founded and directed for decades and which has since become a landmark European institution in the field.
Professor Ost also delivered a lecture on the topic of legal validity at the invitation of the Dean of the Faculty of Law at the Complutense University of Madrid, Professor José Iturmendi Morales, and he recently took part in the tribute to Professor Iturmendi on the occasion of his retirement – published in both Spanish (Tirant lo Blanch) and English (Brill/Nijhoff). Moreover, when I first began to explore the field of Law and Literature, my initial monograph on the subject (Marcial Pons) was once again graced by a generous preface from him. I shall never forget these gestures, nor cease to be grateful for them.
I should add, with regard to the Spanish-speaking world, that in addition to the many honours and distinctions awarded to Professor Ost both in his own country and internationally, he was named an Honorary European Academician by the Real Academia de Jurisprudencia y Legislación of Spain shortly before the pandemic.
When François published one of his collections of legal tales with Dalloz and kindly sent me a copy – which forms part of the basis for the book I now have the honour of introducing – I read it in a single sitting and found it simply ‘magnificent’. At the time, I suggested that he consider publishing it in English. He preferred, instead, to select nine of his most successful stories, which – as the reader will see – span a variety of literary genres, yet all share an exceptional level of literary and legal scholarship, a hallmark of all his work.
The volume before us adopts the perspective of Law through Literature, as distinct from other possible approaches such as Law in Literature or the Law of Literature. These stories were originally published in French by the prestigious publisher Dalloz and have already been translated into Brazilian Portuguese. An Italian edition is currently underway, as I recently learned from Professor Paola Mittica of the University of Urbino, who is also a member of this Editorial Board. Now that Dalloz and Brill/Nijhoff – represented respectively by Laurence Ballet and Bea Timmer – have reached an agreement regarding the English translation rights, the English-speaking world will likewise be able to benefit from the intellectual refinement of these writings.
I should also note that the French edition of these tales was reviewed in the Christmas 2024–2025 issue of Le Soir, a recognition of the distinguished place these works rightfully occupy.
I am confident that readers of this English edition will be captivated by the magic and duende1 that pervade all of François Ost’s work, and that mark him not only as a jurist of the first rank but also as a dramatist with a singular literary voice.
The International Studies in Law and Literature series was launched in January 2024 with a volume by Professor Martín Laclau of Buenos Aires. In 2025, two further volumes followed: the second by the legendary Richard H. Weisberg, and the third by the Spanish professor and renowned expert in Law and Literature, Pedro Talavera. This latest volume of legal tales by Professor Ost adds further distinction and mastery to this series from Brill, which – following its recent merger with De Gruyter – is poised to become the world’s leading academic publisher in the social sciences.
María José Falcón y Tella
Professor of Legal Philosophy, Complutense University of Madrid
Editor-in-Chief, International Studies in Law and Literature