Abstract

The series Litis abusus by Hendrick Goltzius entails a strong moral criticism of civil litigation. Although the artist highlights conventional targets of attacks on litigation, in particular the duration and costs of civil proceedings, the litigant himself, rather than legal professionals, is the central character whose greed and acrimony are the driving forces behind his procedural obstinacy, which ultimately leads to the exhaustion of his patrimonial, physical, mental and spiritual resources. The representation of civil litigation as a monstrous predator also suggests that the system of civil procedure is per se flawed. The sequence of eight prints offers a mostly secular view of the artist’s moral censure of greed and querulous abuse of the system of justice. The addition of several Biblical quotes, at the bottom of each print, gives religious force to the general moral message of the series.