Tomorrow will be the anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth in 1564. He died on the same date in 1616, making this the 400th anniversary of his death. Actually, the exact date of his birth is unknown, but it is traditionally given as the same date of the month as his death.
Below are just a few of the many California cases quoting or paraphrasing the writer:
Ledger v. Tippitt, 164 Cal.App.3d 625 (1985): “We, of course, must acknowledge that while the airwaves are full of ballads voiced in countless languages celebrating love, the flame can flicker, and then die out. Juliet admonished Romeo:
‘O! Swear not by the moon, the unconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.’
(The complete works of WilliamShakespeare (Avenal Books 1975) Romeo and Juliet, p. 1021, col. 1.)”
People v. Cleghorn, 193 Cal. App. 3d 196 (1987): “Upon the basis of these bizarre facts, we hold that he may not, and instead, must suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (with apologies to William Shakespeare and Hamlet, Act III, sc. 1).”
Bernson v. Brown-Ferris Industries of Cal., Inc., 7 Cal. 4th 926 (1994): “Stolen property may be replaced or recovered, but where does one go to restore one’s reputation? In the immortal words of Shakespeare’s Iago: “Who steals my purse steals trash; … [¶] `Twas mine, `tis his, and has been slave to thousands; [¶] But he that filches from me my good name [¶] Robs me of that which not enriches him [¶] and makes me poor indeed.” (Shakespeare, Othello, act III, scene 3.)”.
Johnson v. County of Fresno, 111 Cal. App. 4th 1087 (2003): “Recognizing the County’s frustration in being sued by a party that originally dismissed it out with prejudice and who is now in alliance with an alleged sexual aggressor, we are reminded of William Shakespeare’s character, Trinculo, from The Tempest, who lamented: “misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”
St. Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co., v. Grisham, 122 Cal. App. 4th 563 (2004): “The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.” (Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 5, scene 1.).
