Justice versus Law in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Abstract

Justice versus law is a central moral and legal conflict in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892), particularly in the short stories of “A Scandal in Bohemia”, “The Boscombe Valley Mystery”, and “The Adventure of The Copper Beeches”. The detective Sherlock Holmes defies the law, placing moral justice above strict legal procedures. Despite numerous studies on justice, law, morality, and the role of Sherlock Holmes in Victorian literature, no research has yet comprehensively analysed these themes from the perspective of the conflict between justice and law. This dissertation’s main objective is to analyse how Arthur Conan Doyle represents the conflict between legal institutions and Sherlock Holmes, and whether the law is capable of delivering true justice. The data acquired from a textual analysis of selected short stories and literary theory, demonstrate that Holmes consistently acts outside the Victorian legal system in order to establish his personal justice based on reason and morality. The findings reveal the limitations of the Victorian Law and the inefficiency of the authorities to carry out justice, proving that justice requires an individual approach founded on moral principles, intelligence, logic, and reason.