Towards a Legal Narratology I: Probability, Fidelity and Plot

Chapter 9 continues the search for a humanities-inspired methodology for law. It emphasises the need for conceptual clarity when it comes to incorporating the findings of narratology into law and legal theory, because the term “narrative” is an umbrella concept in literary theory. As a consequence the goals, impact and status of narratology remain undecided and that affects its interdisciplinary uses. On the basis of this book’s concept of narrative intelligence and on the view that the act of judicial emplotment and application requires a new narratology, this chapter re-engages with the topic of mimesis and suggests that the first three topics to be included when considering the development of a legal narratology are probability and fidelity as analysed by Walter Fisher, and plot in the sense given to it by Peter Brooks.