On Villainy

In this book, Lord Millett, the leading equity judge of his generation, examines the legal issues and ramifications of identity theft and financial fraud. In the first of these three essays, Lord Millett deconstructs Shakespeare's classic play, The Merchant of Venice. By examining the pivotal trial scene in which Portia, posing as a judge, uses adversarial techniques to decide the case, he discusses how the law of contract and equity is manipulated when determining the outcome of the now oft-quoted 'pound of flesh' bond.
In the second essay, Lord Millett examines the nature of circular financial transactions and traces the case law from the early years to modern times. The final essay considers fraudulent impersonation, its escalation and its effect on contracts in the modern era as transactions become increasingly reliant on PINs, codes and account numbers.