Commercial Law: Now Playing at a Theater Near You

My father and I viewed True Grit last week.  Imagine my delight when, about 30-40 minutes into the film, Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) informs Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) that an ex-wife had purchased "a heavy book called Daniels on Negotiable Instruments and set me to reading it. Never could get a grip on it ...."  (My memory isn't what it used to be, so I'm borrowing the quoted language from friend Colin Miller and this post.)

So who is this "Daniels"?  I don't know.  Perhaps it's a reference to John Warwick Daniel, who penned a "A Treatise on the Law of Negotiable Instruments" (published in 1876; the third edition is available for viewing here), and co-authored "The Elements of the Law of Negotiable Instruments" (1903) .  Daniel was born in Lynchburg, attained the rank of major in the Civil War, attended law school at the University of Virginia, and later served in the U.S. Senate for several terms.  A more complete bio is here.

Commercial Law.  It's everywhere!  Thank you, Coen brothers, for making my day (and a very entertaining film)!

Comments

[Colin Miller]

It looks like that dialogue was at least in part lifted from Portis' original novel. A Village Voice article cites this passage from page 137 of the novel: "She taken a notion she wanted me to be a lawyer. . . . She bought a heavy book called Daniels on Negotiable Instruments and set me to reading it. I could never get a grip on it. Old Daniels pinned me every time." I actually find the "Old Daniels pinned me every time" line to be quite funny, and I'm surprised that the Coens cut it.

I also wonder how much of the other legal stuff I included in my post was taken from the novel. If all of it was, I think that the novel is a great candidate for a Law & Lit class, and I certainly think that the move is a terrific candidate for a Law & Film class.