The Just and the Unjust
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| Author | James Gould Cozzens |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Social realism |
| Publisher | Harcourt, Brace and Company |
| Released | 1942 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Preceded by | Ask Me Tomorrow |
| Followed by | Guard of Honor |
The Just and the Unjust is a novel by James Gould Cozzens published in 1942. Set in "Childerstown," a fictional small town, the novel is a courtroom drama of a murder trial that begins June 13, 1939, and runs several days.
Cozzens lived in Lambertville, New Jersey, when he wrote The Just and the Unjust, and researched his subject by spending hours at the Doylestown, Pennsylvania courthouse. His protagonist is an assistant district attorney representing "the Commonwealth," strongly suggesting that his Childerstown is also in Pennsylvania.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
The novel has a prologue of several court docket entries in the case of Commonwealth v. Stanley Howell and Robert Basso. The first entry, dated May 31, 1939, indicates that the three defendants in a case of capital murder—Robert Basso, Stanley Howell, and Roy Leming—have all been declared indigent and had attorneys appointed for them. A second, dated June 12, indicates that the trial of Basso and Howell has been severed from that of Leming.
The defendants and their victim are all "foreigners—the people from somewhere else." They have been charged with the cold-blooded murder of a drug dealer and addict, Frederick Zollicoffer, whom they had kidnapped for ransom and killed afterwards, possibly at the direction of a fourth criminal who died in a fall trying to escape from police in New York City. The F.B.I. had also entered the case and arrested Howell, from whom they had extracted a confession.
[edit] Characters
[edit] The trial attorneys
- Abner Coates - assistant district attorney. 31 years old, Abner is tall but stooped, a lawyer of 6 years who has tried hundreds of cases but never a murder trial. He is capable but phlegmatic by nature, one of the "Lawyer Coateses" of Childerstown
- Martin Bunting - district attorney, Bunting is head prosecutor, short, neat, prematurely graying in appearance, with a careful, precise and dry demeanor
- Harry Wurts - defense attorney appointed to defend Howell, Abner's close friend when both were law students. Insolent and overbearing, Harry Wurts relishes being a nuisance but too easily takes offense when none is given. He uses sarcasm at the expense of counsel and witnesses as a trial tactic when he cannot attack the facts.
- George Henderson Stacey - defense attorney appointed to defend Basso
[edit] Other figures
- Judge Thomas Vredenburgh - the presiding judge at the murder trial, dignified without being pompous, sage and protective of his authority in the courtroom
- Bonnie Drummond - Abner's girlfriend
- Judge Philander Coates - Abner's father, forced to retire from the bench after a recent stroke, house-bound in a wheelchair and angry at his fate, but always a mentor
- Jesse Gearhart - the Republican county chairman
[edit] Trial witnesses
- John Costigan - a county detective.
- Mrs. Marguerite Zollicoffer - the victim's wife
- Walter Cohen - the victim's business partner
- Roy Leming - the third defendant, testifying as state's evidence against his partners
- P. T. Kinsolving - a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent
- Stanley Howell - a defendant testifying on his own behalf
[edit] Quotes
- "'Don't be cynical,' Judge Coates said. 'A cynic is just a man who found out when he was about ten years old that there wasn't any Santa Claus, and he's still upset.'"
[edit] References
- Bracher, Frederick. Novels of James Gould Cozzens. Harcourt Brace & Co., 1959.
- Bruccoli, Matthew J. James Gould Cozzens: a Descriptive Bibliography. University of Pittsburgh P., 1981.
- Bruccoli, Matthew J. James Gould Cozzens: A life apart. Harcourt Brace & Co., 1983.
- Bruccoli, Matthew J., ed. A Time of War, Air Force Diaries and Pentagon Memos 1943-45. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard UP, 1984.
