caa a22 4500 388073985 CHVBK 20180307125156.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199907 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S084182090000223X doi S084182090000223X pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S084182090000223X Lind Douglas Azdak, The Rascal Judge [Elektronische Daten] [Douglas Lind] Beware of willing Judges For Truth is a black cat In a windowless room at midnight And Justice a blind bat. A third and shrugging party Alone can right our wrong. This, this, this, Azdak Does for a mere song. Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle introduces the character of Azdak—a corrupt, disrespectful menial clerk who on the heels of a coup d'état finds himself appointed judge, complete with judicial robe and a wicker flask for a hat. The circumstances of his appointment foretell the irony of his tenure. A military coup spoils a sunny Easter Sunday in the Caucasian town of Grusinia. The governor is beheaded; the municipal judge hanged. Yet the Grand Duke, oppressive ruler of Grusinia and surrounding territories, escapes, due in no small part to unknowing protection afforded by Azdak. When Azdak learns the next day that the fugitive he harbored over night was the Grand Duke, he heads straight for the courthouse, raging at himself through the streets, to turn himself in and submit to punishment. No judge presides over the courtroom, however, only a few bored soldiers who find Azdak amusing though somewhat crazed. In their amusement they decide to make him the new judge, declaring that the old judge (still hanging in the corner) "was always a rascal. Now the rascal shall be the Judge” (72). On becoming judge, Azdak acts anything but honorably and respectfully toward the law. He sits on the statute book to give himself a more regal aire. He takes bribes; he derides and ridicules the parties appearing before him; he requires a female litigant to perform sexual acts; he does a preliminary assessment of the worth of each lawyer's arguments by asking the amount of his fee. In short, Azdak judges arbitrarily, with bias and partiality. By play's end, immediately following his final decrees, he flees out of concern for his life, never to be seen again. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999 The Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence Cambridge University Press 12/2(1999-07), 223-252 0841-8209 12:2<223 1999 12 CJL https://doi.org/10.1017/S084182090000223X text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S084182090000223X text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Lind Douglas NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- The Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence Cambridge University Press 12/2(1999-07), 223-252 0841-8209 12:2<223 1999 12 CJL CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge