As does life itself, law has a long and intimate relationship with art and literature. Although it is often assumed that there is one-way traffic from law to literature, there is something of a both-ways street between law and art. Most times, art relies on and follows law as a source of inspiration. Whether it is Charles Dickens's Bleak House, Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, or television's Law and Order or Dixon of Dock Green, art distills and portrays law and its cast of characters in both flattering and demeaning ways. But on some rare and memorable moments, the trade has been reversed – law and life have followed and echoed the styling of art and literature much to the benefit of most concerned.

One name that has made regular appearances in the annals of law and literature is Richard Parker. More often than not, the sea has been the important background for his many exploits and occasional infamy. A Richard Parker was on board the Francis Speight when it sank in 1846. On the law's side of the historical tableau, perhaps the most infamous Parker was the eighteenth-century one who was hanged for his decisive part in the Dore mutiny. However, a more telling legal role was played a few decades later by a lowly cabin boy. Although he met with an unfortunate and gruesome end out in the unforgiving Atlantic Ocean, this Richard Parker went on to be part of a cause célèbre that has achieved storied status as one of the defining moments in the rich life of the common law.